It doesn’t seem that the Covid19 virus is going to say goodbye anytime soon. With the arrival of new variants every now and then, the ongoing pandemic has been making life difficult for people for the last two years now. The recent Omicron variant of the virus has been spreading rapidly in the country. Out of the 3,89,03,731 active Covid19 cases in the country, 10,050 cases are of the Omicron variant, according to Union Health Ministry Department.
Because the Omicron variant shows symptoms similar to a common cold or flu, people are not getting themselves tested, resulting in the further spread of the virus. To spread awareness about the variant and sensitize people to follow all the Covid rules, Zonal DCP of Nagpur, Maharashtra, Lohit Matani, IPS, reached out to those sections of people who are at high risk of becoming ‘super spreaders’ in the city and sensitized them about the virus.
In an exclusive conversation with Indian Masterminds, the officer talked about his initiative and how it may be helpful in limiting the spread of the new variant.
SENSITIZING HIGH-RISK SECTIONS
Concerned about the economic fallout of a lockdown on the people at the grassroots level, the Union government as well as the state governments have decided to avoid a complete lockdown and go for cluster-wise containment zones instead. Due to this, people are seen to be moving around fearlessly and carelessly without adhering to Covid appropriate behavior.
With the same scenario playing out in Nagpur as well, DCP Lohit Matani decided to target those sections of the society that are generally not following the Covid19 protocols and are vulnerable to the virus.
“First and foremost, we decided to target truck drivers who usually live a very non-sanitized life, roam around freely, sleep on the side of streets and interact with numerous people in a day. They are not in the habit of wearing good quality masks and most of them completely avoid wearing one,” he said.
SOCIAL GROUPS
Rather than only using the police department in this initiative, Mr. Matani decided to involve various social and institutional groups as well, like cadets from NCC, Truck Driver’s Association, doctors, physical trainers, fitness groups, etc.
“We held a meeting with the truck drivers and raised awareness regarding the new variant, among them. Further, we distributed good quality masks and sanitizers to them and asked them to use these regularly,” he told Indian Masterminds.
The IPS officer is specifically targeting that section of society that can unknowingly spread the virus among a larger section of society, such as truck drivers, Zomato and Swiggy delivery boys, street vendors, etc.
TWO-WAY COMMUNICATION
Apart from this, a direct one-to-one conversation with these people helps the officer in understanding their problems as well. This enables him to guide them and provide solutions for their problems.
“They may have problems regarding policing or the administration, and we try to address them on the spot and think of ways in which we can provide a solution to them,” he said.
During his meetings with the people, the officer also shares ways in which their immunity can be improved. He has formed a team of people that work in this area and so is able to guide people on health and fitness matters.
BOOSTING IMMUNITY
The officer and his team sensitize people to follow a proper diet and go for physical training and exercises to keep their immunity strong, which will be helpful in fighting off the virus better.
Truck drivers tend to eat anything from the streets since they travel long distances and cannot always carry meal boxes from their homes. Secondly, they are in a habit of excessive drinking and smoking which is injurious to health. The officer guides them about what to eat and at what time and, also, the kind of physical training that they should do to boost immunity.
“The Omicron variant has cases in which immunity plays a good role. People with high immunity face low blows of the virus and vice versa. Therefore, we are giving proper training to them and teaching them ways with which they can boost their immunity. Further, we are organizing vaccination drives by calling the Nagpur Municipal Corporation to a given location and vaccinating all the people from the target sector who are not vaccinated,” Mr. Matani told Indian Masterminds.
The officer is trying to make a coordinated effort involving all stakeholders to address the issues related to Covid19.
