Alarming situation

 There is a perceptible change over transparency in the department of health & family welfare (DoHFW) in Nagaland since the past few months as there seems to be a willingness to respond to media queries and for straight talk. In the past, the department was shrouded under layers where persistent of efforts to elicit answers to uncomfortable questions were stonewalled. Earlier, during the first pandemic wave in 2020 and when new covid-19 cases were on the rise, the DoHFW stuck with the position that it was at local transmission or Stage 2. The surge in new cases since mid-2020 transmissions beyond quarantines, had caused apprehensions especially since many had no travel history nor contact with known source(s) of COVID-19. As per the WHO definition, this fulfilled the criteria of a stage called ‘community transmission’. At this stage, there are widespread transmissions but the sources cannot be identified. However even during 2020 when cases rose, the DoHFW borrowed a phrase from the ministry of health & family welfare (MoHFW) to describe it as a stage between local transmission(Stage 2) and community transmission (Stage 3).However, on September 11, the DoHFW was candid enough to admit that is was seriously concerned that 75% of cases reported from the week were without any contact history that clearly signified “high community transmission.” In its weekly bulletin report released on Saturday, H&FW also stated that many cases from self-test were still not reported. The department said that 311 cases were detected (between September 4-10) out of 13,356 samples that were tested. The disclosure by the DoHFW has been long over due but nevertheless, it is better late than never. While the state was going on a path towards further Unlock of various restrictions; now the issue of concern, if one may describe the DoHFW’s statement, should spur proactive action from both the government and public. The manner in which the DoHFW had been handling the covid-19 pandemic is a copy book of how the MoHFW has been fumbling with the problem. Even almost a year ago during the first COVID-19 wave, despite uncontrolled spikes the MoHFW tried to stretch the WHO criteria by preferring to describe it as ‘limited community transmission’. It may be recalled, that in 2020 scientists had predicted that India was most likely to witness the second COVID-19 wave by March-April 2021 that would be worse than the first. The prediction came true as India’s covid-19 cases spiked up since March,2021 from 15,522 cases on March 2 to 61,117 cases by March 31. The number smashed through the roof on April 15, when a total of over two lakh fresh cases were recorded. However cases reached the sky when the four-lakh barrier was broken with 4,08,323 new COVID-19 cases recorded until 11 p.m. on April 30. India became the first country in the world to register over 4 lakh infections in a single day. India officially, has a total of 3,32,36,921 covid-19 recorded cases. This was long predicted by April 2020 when a group of noted scientists of the Indian Institute of Science Centre, Bangeluru, predicted that by January 1,2021 India may have possibly reached close to 30 million or three crore infected cases (over 6 million ‘active’ cases and 1 million fatalities). If a stage of community transmission has been reached in Nagaland and with imminent third wave predicted, a high level emergency has to be declared to prevent a catastrophe.