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Our Correspondent
Imphal, June 9 (EMN): A small lake island called Karang in Manipur’s Loktak Lake, still remains a Covid-free village even though the rest of the country is reeling under the impact of the Covid-19 second wave.
When Eastern Mirror contacted Haobijam Iboyaima, member of Karang Ward 3 to confirm, he stated that so far there are no reports of any infection in their village.
Karang, which has a geographical area of about two and half kilometres, is located in the middle of the Loktak Lake, the largest freshwater lake in the entire northeastern region of the country. It is 54 km away from the state capital under Bishnupur district.
The Health officials at Bishnupur district headquarters, 30 km south of Imphal, also confirmed the report.
When enquired, an official of the district surveillance team opined that there are many reasons for not detecting any cases in Karang, one of the reasons could be because of its isolated location.
However, considering the habitation pattern of the lake island that has about 300 houses, the authorities in the island are taking up the maximum precautions by conducting the vaccination programmes with the help of a medical officer in charge of the public health centre from May 28, Iboyaima said. Testing for Covid-19 is also done. As of June 8, around 500 persons were vaccinated, he said.
Highlighting that the hardship faced by the people in the island in view of the curfew and other restrictions, he said that most of the people are unable to obtain daily necessities.
90 percent of the people of Karang, which is connected to the rest of the state by habitations such as Chingjing Mamang, Sendra, Phubala, Ningthoukhong, Mayang Imphal, and Chingthi, rely on selling fish to make a living. Locally built boats are their only mode of transportation.
According to the latest official reports issued on Wednesday, Bishnupur district's cumulative number of Covid-19 positive cases is 3149 while 2539 of them have recovered. The total active case is 514 while 96 succumbed to the virus.
Till date, the district authority has so far given 39,475 anti-Covid jabs including 34,876 first and 4599 second doses to the residents. It is reported that around 14 citizens of Karang Island were infected with the virus in the first wave of the pandemic last year.