Dear Dimapur, please show some seriousness — CMO writes to citizens as Covid-19 deaths begin

Dimapur, July 28 (EMN): The Novel Coronavirus-linked deaths in Dimapur have been associated with persons involved in business establishments and shops, which says that the transmission ‘must have occurred in the market places and shopping area.’

In other words, the Novel Coronavirus (Covid-19) may now be out in the open.

On July 28, Tuesday, the Dimapur district chief medical officer made a fervent appeal, ‘with our folded hands,’ to the people of Nagaland’s business centre: Please show some seriousness, or the state is ‘headed to a point of no return with devastating after-effects and loss of many lives.’      

The chief medical office (CMO) of the district issued a letter on Tuesday appealing to the citizens of Dimapur district during the lockdown period to strictly follow safety precautions. The letter, issued through the department of Information and Public Relations, was appended by Dimapur CMO Dr Tiasunep Pongener.

Critical stage of the fight

‘As we all know that we are entering into a crucial stage in our fight against the Covid-19 pandemic and it is our desire that there should be low mortality amongst us. However, it has been observed during the past one week that mortality especially among the older age group and those with co-morbidity is increasing and the number of positive cases among the general public is also alarmingly on the rise,’ the CMO stated.

‘At this stage we cannot stop the virus transmission completely, but definitely you and I can control and contain the spread to a certain extend so as to buy some time before we get a vaccine or a definitive and effective drug which may come in a few months time.’

A virus somewhere out there

The CMO removed the elephant in the room: “It is worrying to note that most of the deaths were linked to persons involved in business and shops, which tells us that transmission must have occurred in the market places and shopping area.”

The lockdown has been imposed to keep the people safe from getting infected during shopping or marketing or ‘loitering’ or ‘roaming around etc.’

The CMO lamented that “all of us were very serious about wearing mask and implementing strict dos and don’ts many months before Corona(virus) actually came to us, but after the virus entered our state everybody seems to be a casual and reckless which is a major concern for all of us.”

“If this trend continues, then we are headed to a point of no return with devastating after effects and loss of many lives,” the CMO stated.  

Take strict safety precautions, observe guidelines

The Dimapur district CMO establishment has appealed to the people to be ‘better and responsible’ citizens by observing the guidelines and measures implemented by the government agencies and community groups ‘to save our state from any major catastrophe.’

‘The Dos and Don’ts for Covid-19 pandemic is available everywhere, so we are not repeating it again, but with our folded hands we are requesting all our citizens to follow every precautionary measures such as social distancing, wearing of mask, hand hygiene, use of sanitizers, not spitting everywhere, not loitering around, no mass gathering etc. If each of us practices these simple fundamentals then it will take a long way in containing the spread and maintain controllable state of cross-infection and transmission,’ the CMO stated.