With just one RT-PCR lab at Zoram Medical College, Mizoram is struggling to bring the Covid numbers down, but the daily positivity rate shows no improvement. Mizoram now has 16,841 active cases, while 304 people have died of Covid-19. The Covid death ranges from 18 day old infant to 90+ old men.
With the partial lockdown still observed in the state, the state's overall economy seems to show an alarming decline which will eventually affect government workers, business, and most significantly, the unemployed youths seeking jobs in both public and private sectors. Meanwhile, social media is swarming with the public's voice of disappointment and anger at the state's management of the pandemic. Last month, reports stated that Zoram Medical College, one of the two Covid dedicated hospitals in Aizawl, ran short of staff as they desperately put out a call for medical volunteers. In the south districts, NGOs and community funded groups are constantly calling out to the state leaders to hasten the installation of the RT-PCR lab for which the High Court has given order.
The ruling party's reputation is slowly going under the sink as the public grows angrier each day with the entire management and administrative measures taken to tackle the pandemic. Many localities in Aizawl have been pronounced as restricted and containment zones. Meanwhile, the Local Level Task Force, which has always been the backbone of the state in the fight against the pandemic since the beginning, are gradually dissolved in several localities as Community Covid Care Centres are closed down due to lack of financial aid. Also, volunteers of the LLTF have to go back to their daily work as economic activities resume. With hospital beds almost fully occupied, many Covid19 partients are in home isolation.
In such a burdening climate, Mizoram is now one of the worst affected states in the country (population wise) with a total of reported 93,660 COVID-19 cases.
