Chief Minister N Biren Singh on Thursday appealed to the people of Manipur to get Covid Vaccination, saying that getting vaccinated is the only option to prevent the spread of deathly COVID-19 pandemic.
The chief minister was addressing the state amid the recent surge in Covid cases in Manipur. Earlier, the chief minister attended a video conference chaired by the Prime Minister regarding the prevailing COVID-19 situation in different states.
According to experts, the Covid pandemic will continue for a while. In view of it, necessary awareness has been given to the public from time to time from the side of Health Ministry and the state government, he added.
Expressing dissatisfaction on the low number of vaccination rate in the state (below 60 per cent) compared to its neighbouring state Assam (above 90 per cent) and other states, he said, “Life is precious. Please get vaccinated.”
Acknowledging that many people in hill districts are having vaccine hesitency, Biren appealed to them to stop being reluctant to get vaccination and get vaccinated to prevent from Covid.
A fully vaccinated person has 90 per cent chances of survival if he gets contacted with the Covid virus, he added.
Biren also pointed out that the state had witnessed only a single Omicron variant. The new positive cases which are increasing rapidly in the last few days are all Delta variant, he added.
He also urged all the youths between 15 to 18 years to get vaccinated at the earliest by visiting the nearest vaccination centres or the mobile vaccination team deployed at various localities.
Meanwhile, on Wednesday, the chief minister appealed to the people of the state to use face masks to prevent the spread COVID-19 infection and follow the Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) strictly.
He was responding to the media at his secretariat office located at Babupara, Imphal concerning the sudden spike of COVID-19 positivity rate in the state.
Manipur daily COVID-19 positive cases hit 206 mark on Wednesday at the positivity rate of 8.6 per cent; however, no fatalities were reported on the same day.
Biren said people should not take the present COVID-19 situation lightly. He said according to expert opinion, Omicron spreads wider than the Delta variant and the people should follow strict SOP and guidelines to prevent infection, he added.
He said the ECI has also restricted election related rallies and meetings till January 15. “We have to obey it and we have to be very careful even afterwards. We should avoid getting infected from this deadly virus,” he added.
The state government has been taking up all necessary measures to contain the spread of the Covid pandemic at its best level, he said, appealing the CSOs and local clubs to lend their hand like in the past and encourage vaccination by creating various awareness programme.
