A recent report released by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has stated that nine districts of Manipur represent “high vulnerability” to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic due to the Omicron variant.
According to a recent report entitled ‘Vulnerability of Districts for Covid-19’ by an empowered group set up by the Centre on Covid-19, several districts in poll-bound states - Manipur, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh represent “high vulnerability to the emerging COVID-19 pandemic due to the Omicron variant,” and their population face “heightened risk of severe disease and adverse outcomes.”
According to it, 65 of the 75 districts in Uttar Pradesh, all 22 districts in Punjab and nine of the 16 districts in Manipur are listed as Category 1 and Category 2 districts that represent high vulnerability to the emerging COVID-19 variant of Omicron. Two districts of Manipur fall under Category 1 of the vulnerable districts for COVID-19.
Manipur on Wednesday witnessed a sudden spurt in daily Covid-19 cases as 206 people tested positive for the infection and 155 people on Thursday. The state's total caseload mounted to 1,26,705, while its death toll reached 2012 as of Thursday. The cumulative number of COVID-19 recoveries is now 1,23,793. The total number of active cases surged to 539. On December 31, the number of daily Covid 19 positives was only 10 and the positivity rate was 0.9 pc in the state. This Wednesday, the daily figure jumped to 206 with a positivity rate of 8.6 per cent and on Thursday it was 5.9 per cent.
Meanwhile, India added more than 2.47 lakh new cases of Covid-19 on Thursday, the highest single-day rise in the ongoing wave. With 84,825 recoveries and 380 deaths, active cases presently stand at 11,17,531. The country also saw a single day jump of 620 cases of the Omicron variant, the highest so far, taking the total tally of such cases to 5,488, out of which 2,162 people have recovered or migrated so far.
On the other hand, Prime Minister Modi chaired a virtual meeting with the chief ministers of all states to review the emerging Covid-19 situation in the country, in view of the highly-transmissible Omicron variant. This comes a day after the Union health ministry flagged a sharp surge in the country’s case positivity rate among other serious concerns.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi said despite Covid-19 cases increasing in the country, there is no need to panic as whatever variant it may be, the way to fight it is vaccination. This was the first meeting of PM Modi with the chief ministers of the states and the UTs in 2022. Talking about Omicron, PM Modi said there was some doubt regarding Omicron. Countries like the United States are reporting 14 lakh cases in a day because of Omicron.
PM Modi said that the country’s preparation should be ahead of all variants of Covid-19. After we tide over Omicron, we have to make preparations in place to fight other variants of the virus as well. Manipur has also become a state of concern with the rapid rise in positivity figures and low vaccination, while the Election Commission of India has a Constitutional obligation to hold elections in time in spite of the third wave. The poll panel also expressed concerns over the low percentage of first dose coverage in Manipur. The overall vaccination rate for Manipur as on Tuesday stands at 57.22 per cent for the first dose and 43.25 per cent for the second dose.
