Tura, July 7: Children have been greatly impacted during the second wave of the Covid-19 pandemic that struck the country and Garo Hills, beginning three months ago and data released by the health department for West Garo Hills district reveal close to 500 young boys and girls had to fight against the disease.
From the age group of 0 to 14 years, there were as many as 449 children in the largest Garo Hills district who were infected by Covid-19 and the pandemic took the life of one child.
The sustained lockdown measures together with vigorous random testing in large inhabited areas and the government push for vaccinations has helped to contain the outbreak considerably.
Currently, only 73 active cases of the infection remain among the large group of infected children.
But the worrying factor is the rising cases of young adults falling prey to the infection.
Government data released in Tura during a meeting of the district task force on Wednesday shows that a large number of young adults, particularly teenagers, were affected by the disease.
The health data shows that 589 individuals under 18 years of age had the infection.
To make matters worse, a considerable number of adults remain reluctant to take the vaccination despite danger to their lives from the infection and the threat of spreading it to others unknowingly.
Meghalaya government has issued a strong advisory to all government employees and those in private offices to get vaccinated and help stop the spread of the disease. Those unwilling to do so would now have to undergo an RT-PCR test every ten days and submit the report to their concerned authority as part of safety measures for everyone.
Entire Garo Hills districts had experienced a drop in infection cases and no deaths for almost ten long days, until last Sunday when two persons passed away from the infection.
Since then deaths have begun to surface, once again, and the latest casualty is a 50-year-old man from Chotcholja village in North Garo Hills admitted to Tura civil hospital with Covid-19 pneumonia who sadly passed away on the same day.
West Garo Hills District Vaccination Status
1st Dose – 1,31,780 people vaccinated.
2nd Dose – 18,607 people vaccinated.
18+ category – 62,433 received 1st dose.
45+ Category – 56,781 received 1st dose.
