PRINCE KUMAR
Ranchi, April 18: As the number of Covid cases in the state has dried up where only 9 Covid positive patients are there in the whole state, common people have given up using masks which is a preliminary tool to control the infection.
At the same time, the state government has also gone into a relaxation mode where on average, only 5,000 Covid tests are being conducted daily in the state. Also, Covid testing at railway stations, bus stands and airports has stopped which was done to keep a check on the Covid-19 cases.
Health experts have claimed that the number of Covid-19 cases in the state might be different from what is being presented in the health bulletin of the state government as only one-tenth of the Covid test is being done at present in comparison to what was being done during the third wave.
While taking a survey across the district’s shopping malls by lagatar24.com correspondent it was found that near about 99% of the population visiting malls were not even carrying masks with them.
Abhishek Kumar, a resident of Harmu who went to the nucleus mall to watch KGF-2, said: “Earlier access to the Nucleus mall premises was restricted without masks. But now they have started permitting visitors without masks and no one is stopping us.”
“I went to the Nucleus mall and nearly spent 5 hours there without using any mask and no one stopped me anywhere. In my opinion, the time has come where we all should give up using masks as it has a certain amount of side effects on health,” he added.
Nishant Viplove, a resident of Dhurwa who went to deposit cash in HDFC Bank in the Ashok Nagar branch said that earlier the guard won’t permit to get inside without a mask but now nearly everyone has given up using masks.
“I have suffered from covid once and currently I am fully vaccinated and there is no need of wearing the mask,” he added.
However, doctors involved in testing, as well as surveillance, said though the risk factor is low as the virus has weakened, they need to ensure that surveillance must be a priority keeping in mind the fresh variants being reported in other countries as well as in different parts of our own country. The experts also said though curbs have been eased, the surveillance mechanism should be working round the clock due to the opening of International flights as well as unrestricted travel by the people of the state.
On being asked what methods should be taken by the government to ensure that surveillance is rock solid keeping the uninterrupted flow of people visiting from foreign destinations, a health expert said, “Testing is the only way to ascertain about the infection as well as the variants, So, the government must take steps and issue guidelines that people, who might be travelling from destinations which have reported BA-2, must go for tests so that we can track people infected with the latest variant.”
Covid-19 cases have shown a rising trend in parts of the country including Delhi, Delhi-NCR and Maharashtra with experts stating that the mild surge could be primarily due to the emergence of mutant variants like Omicron XE and BA-2 which have a high degree of transmissibility.