Positively rate dips to 2% in MP's Barwani

Bhopal: Madhya Pradesh's Barwani was the first and most hit district in the state by the second wave of COVID-19 but now it is going to become also a maiden to flatten

the curve of the infection by dipping the positivity rate to 2 per cent. The devastating recent surge had first affected Barwani, Baitul, Chhidwada, Balaghat, Burhanpur, and Khandwa districts of the state which are bordering Maharashtra, the worst-hit state in covid-19 cases in the country. After then, the infection rapidly spread across the state.

The positivity rate of Covid-19 has been continuously dipping in the Barwani and it remains around 2 per cent since 12 May due to of extraordinary efforts of the district collector. The highest rate of positivity in the district was recorded to 34 per cent in the district while it was 22 per cent in the state. "We are cautiously optimistic that the curve shall completely flatten within a week, strict implementation of the 'Corona Curfew' has played a crucial role to contain the spread of the virus", the collector of Barwani Shivraj Singh told Millennium Post.

"We terminated a 'Sarpanch' and suspended a teacher who conducted marriages ceremonies, it spread a positive message among the people for not violating the protocols of the pandemic", the collector said.

Early implementation of the 'Kill Corona-2' campaign in villages, sealing Maharashtra border, conducting thermal screening and measuring oxygen saturation given success to reduce the spread of virus, he also said. The main reason behind a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases, the district shares around a 200-km-long perimeter with Maharashtra, around 5000 people move the border every day for work, said Verma.

Barwani has a 68 per cent tribal population. Altogether, 51 Bhagoria Haats (annual traditional festival of tribes) organized in the district for seven days during March and April months, in which around 5 lakh tribes from Maharashtra attended the cultural fairs, It was the

'super spreader' of the virus in the district as well as in the state. "The strategy to take an advanced step has supported us in arresting the virus in the district. The villages had been categorized into zones on the basis of the reported number of cases", Verma also added.

Verma's initiative of fixing rates of various services for private hospitals has become a role model; the government has implemented it across the state. There is no case of Covid-19 reported in 134 Panchayats out of 416 in the district so far.