The surging Covid infection threatens to severely affect the health apparatus in Bihar with the virus taking a large number of doctors and health workers on the frontline of the battle in its grip. In the past three days itself, more than 200 doctors and health workers have got infected with the virus, leaving them to disassociate with the medical duty they had been assigned.

Yesterday itself, 90 doctors were found to have contracted the virus during a mass-testing. A day before, on Sunday, 110 doctors and health workers were found infected with the virus. Majority of the doctors contracting Covid hail from Patna’s Nalanda Medical College and Hospital (NMCH) which was declared as a dedicated hospital for Covid treatment during the first two waves.

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State unit secretary of the Indian Medical Association (IMA) Dr. Sunil Kumar described the situation as very alarming the way doctors are fast coming into the grip of the virus. “The surging infection among the doctors’ community indeed is a matter of worry for us but the good thing is that the majority of them have mild symptoms,” Dr. Kumar said.

In the past week, Covid cases have burst forth in a virulent form, reporting a 260 percent jump indicating the seriousness of the situation. On 29 December, the total Covid cases recorded in Bihar stood at 77 but on 30 December, their number jumped to 132, indicating a virtual blast of the virus. This can very well be underlined from the alarming upsurge in their number in the coming days. Subsequently, their number increased to 158 on 31 December, 281 on 1 January, 352 on 2 January, and 344 on 3 January.

Keeping in the seriousness of the situation, Bihar chief minister Nitish Kumar has called a meeting of the cabinet this evening to decide over imposing curb to check the spread of the virus but many alliance partners have urged him not to enforce fresh lockdown which, they said, will prove disastrous for the poor and daily wage earners.

“Covid-19 is changing its nature. The first corona came into the world and then the Delta variant and now Omicron. No one knows when this will stop. Hence, lockdown cannot be imposed every time. We have to adjust to the current circumstances and live in accordance with the situation,” Bihar labour resources minister Jibesh Mishra told the media today. Stating that the masses should learn to live with Covid, the minister added, “The lockdown severely impacts the earning of common people in the country. The economy of the Center and states cannot be allowed to disrupt due to corona.” Mishra comes from the BJP.

The Hindustani Awam Morcha (HAM), another NDA constituent headed by Jitan Ram Manjhi, too has appealed to the chief minister not to enforce total lockdown lest it will starve the poor. “We are very much aware of how the total lockdown impacted the life of the poor. The lockdown surely won’t be in the interest of the poor masses and the economy,” HAM spokesperson Danish Rizwan said.

Former parliamentarian Pappu Yadav, on the other hand, has demanded a ban on public meetings being held by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and chief minister Nitish Kumar to check Covoid spread, rather than enforcing a lockdown. “While on the one hand, they (the PM and the CM) are preaching about Covid, on the other they are drawing crowds through their rallies,” Yadav tweeted today.