News, Editor's Pick
As citizens return, all eyes on Dimapur
Health official says everyone arriving from outside will be considered potential Covid-19 carrier
Our Reporter
Dimapur May 14 (EMN): As the government of Nagaland prepares for the arrival of citizens stranded in other states, Health officials in the state are leaving nothing to chance by adopting a strict stance that would treat every passenger as a potential carrier of Covid-19.
Speaking to Eastern Mirror, a highly placed official from the department of Health and Family Welfare, informed that 60-70% cases are from the metropolitan cities, which also include satellite townships like Pune, Agra, Indore amongst others; and many stranded people from designated red zones will be returning to Nagaland.
“We are exercising abundant caution and whether the person is coming from a red zone or a green zone, everyone will be checked and treated as a potential carrier of the coronavirus,” said the source.
The official shared that now, even healthcare workers coming in contact with the passengers will be treated as a suspect for Covid-19, adding that “mindsets have completely changed, which has led to taking the utmost precautionary measures”.
“We are trying to prepare ourselves in a very adequate and satisfactory manner where each and every district is also planning their own way of fighting this pandemic, especially after the arrival of stranded passengers,” said the health official.
When asked if there are adequate quarantine centres in Dimapur since it will be the entry point for all, the source said that the empowered group assigned for Covid-19 in the district will have more to highlight on the topic.
Several calls made to the convener of the empowered group, Kikheto Sema, went unanswered.
According to the deputy commissioner of Dimapur, Anoop Khinchi, preparation for quarantine centres “is in full swing”. He added that all those arriving from other states would be compulsorily quarantined.
Khinchi also informed that when the special trains arrive in Dimapur, only those compartments provided for Nagaland people would be opened at the station. This is to ensure that apart from Nagaland citizens, no other persons enter Dimapur, he added.
Tuensang
The chief medical officer (CMO) of Tuensang informed this newspaper that a few quarantine centres have been set up and more are coming up, which will take the total number of beds to more than 300.
But with an estimated1025 stranded people expected to reach Tuensang, out of which 761 are from red zones, the CMO shared that the district has not received any update from the state government.
“We hope the returnees are sent batch-wise or else it may cause a big problem,” said the CMO, adding that a meeting with the district task force and tribal leaders will be held on Friday or Saturday.
“We have not made any concrete decision as of now but a certain level of arrangement has been made for quarantine,” said the doctor.
Kiphire
While speaking to one of the Health officials of Kiphire district, it was informed that every village has three-bed quarantine facilities. The only problem, he said, was that it would be difficult to accommodate everyone arriving from outside the state since quarantine facilities are very limited in the villages.
He added that it would be difficult to manage if all the stranded persons, especially those from red zones, arrive at one go.
Longleng
The chief medical officer of Longleng, Dr. Obangjungla informed that quarantine facilities have been prepared not only for those scheduled to arrive but also for doctors and nurses in the event of detection of Covid-19 positive case.
When asked about the number of people coming to Kiphire district, she said around 300 persons. The doctor added that ‘it might increase or decrease’.
Obangjungla informed that they are yet to receive a proper directive but will have a meeting regarding the situation. ‘Only after that we will be able to give the actual statistics of how many people can be accommodated in Longleng,’ she added.
SOP for people entering Nagaland
The government of Nagaland on Thursday announced a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) for people scheduled to arrive in the state.
- The deputy commissioners of the districts of Nagaland have been designated nodal authority for receiving stranded persons to the state.
- Persons returning from green and orange zones will be screened upon arrival and if found to be asymptomatic, shall undergo institutional quarantine for 3 (three) days and thereafter be placed under mandated home quarantine for 14 (fourteen) days. Necessary documentation and mandatory download of mobile app for monitoring shall be completed at the institutional quarantine facility.
- Persons returning from red zones or crossing red zone areas en-route to Nagaland, shall be screened at designated screening facilities and will undergo 14 (fourteen) days of institutional quarantine and thereafter undergo 14 (fourteen) days home quarantine.
- The stranded returnees inbound for Dimapur, Mon and Peren shall be initially quarantined at Dimapur and sent to their districts to complete their mandated quarantine period in the designated district quarantine centres or home quarantine as the case may be.
- The returnees inbound to the rest of the districts shall be quarantined at Kohima initially and thereafter be sent to respective districts to complete the remaining quarantine period in the designated district quarantine centres or home quarantine as the case may be.