Although East Khasi Hills continues to bear the brunt of the Covid-19 pandemic in Meghalaya, with 60 percent of all cases reported in the district, the second wave has hit outlying districts particularly hard, with infections in some more than doubling since the end of March.
Since that time East Khasi Hills has reported 6,313 new Covid cases out of Meghalaya’s total of 9,901.
Up to March 31, EKH had recorded 8,739 coronavirus infections, meaning that it saw an increase of 72 percent in April-May.
While this is bad, other districts, seemingly little affected by the pandemic (at least according to official figures) in the first wave, have seen greater percentage increases during the second wave, though the numbers in absolute terms remain low.
The worst affected has been West Khasi Hills, which has seen an increase of 163 percent. Up until March it had had just 180 Covid cases. It then went on to add 293 in April-May.
Similar situations have been recorded in South West Garo Hills (113 percent increase, 200 cases until March, 221 in May alone) and West Jaintia Hills (113 percent increase, 542 cases until March, 614 in April-May).
South West Garo Hills has been an outlier in the western range. Overall, cases have increased by 43 percent in April and May, for a total of 1,115, across the five districts, which is well below the state figure of 70 percent.
Other districts that have seen concerning increases include South West Khasi Hills (95 percent increase, 57 cases until March, 54 in April-May) and Ri-Bhoi (81 percent increase, 1,397 cases until March, 1,138 in April-May).
Despite the heavy numbers, Meghalaya has, so far, been able to avoid the tragic scenes in other parts of the country where a lack of hospital beds and oxygen supplies have made headlines around the world.
Perhaps the lockdown in East Khasi Hills has helped stabilise infection rates, though they have stubbornly refused to come down. Elsewhere, though, the numbers continue to rise – last month only 28 percent of Covid-19 cases in Meghalaya were outside EKH. This month the figure is 40 percent. Is a statewide lockdown not too far away?
