Centre’s advice to test vendors: Nagaland to decide on August 10

Our Reporter
Dimapur, Aug.9 (EMN): A day after the Union Health Ministry’s advice to the states and union territories to start testing of grocery shops, vegetable and other vendors to ensure early detection of Covid-19 cases which can lead to reduction in mortality rate, the Nagaland government is yet to decide on the suggestion from the Centre.

This was informed to Eastern Mirror by the state nodal officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Dr. Nyanthung Kikon.

Kikon said the department is yet to take a call on the matter and a meeting for the same would be held on August 10. He said the ‘main concern and the task for the department right now’ was contact tracing of the primary and secondary contacts.

‘’Unless the already confirmed primary and secondary contacts are traced and kept in isolation to break the chain of transmission, testing of those people will be a task. Right now we want to concentrate on the primary and secondary contacts. The state has its own priority although the directives/advice is from the Centre. It is a broad guideline,’’ Kikon said.

On the question raised to the department on the slow recovery rate in the state, Kikon shared that ‘some section’ had raised questions concerning the fast recovery rate initially, and now the same section was questioning on the ‘supposed slow recovery rate.’

‘’This is a new pandemic and unprecedented, even to the old people who are in their 70s and 80s. It is better to wait sometimes, as we also don’t have answers with the pandemic being new globally,’’ Kikon added.