Crowding in quarantine units in Nagaland, as more citizens return

Our Reporter
Dimapur, June 2 (EMN): With the arrival of thousands of stranded citizens, quarantine facilities in the state are running out of space to accommodate the returnees.

An official handling the accommodation of returnees in Dimapur informed Eastern Mirror that out of the 46 designated government quarantine centres, all are in use, except for two: HMI at Purana Bazaar and JNV at Nihokhu, with a total of 500 beds.

“There are 4085 beds in the government acquired quarantine centres; this does not include the one in Ganeshnagar,” informed the official. Ganeshnagar quarantine centre can accommodate more than 1000 persons.

It was informed that almost all the quarantine centres were in use because the government does not want to mix the returnees from various zones.

“We are also trying to send the inmates according to which zone they come from, be it red, green or orange,” said the official and added that even male and female are segregated.

“As of today, approximately 3500 people have come back and are in quarantine centres, more are expected, especially the 1600 passengers from Bengaluru and other states,” shared the official.

It was informed that out of the 1600 passengers arriving from Bengaluru, around 800 are to be quarantined in Dimapur, and the remaining half in Kohima.

“I just got news that 500 beds will be ready at Ganeshnagar for the Bangalore returnees and the rest will be either at paid or government quarantine facilities,” said the official.

The official further informed that 37 paid quarantine centres have been identified in Dimapur with a total of 1048 beds.

“The paid quarantine centres will not be given to the choices of the returnee as a lot of medical and security protocols are involved depending on where they are coming from,” said the official and added that as of Tuesday, five paid quarantine facilities were in use.

The numbers are subject to change as more people arrive in the state and those who have finished quarantine period leave the facilities, it was informed.

“Certain organisations like Bengali Samaj or Jain Samaj, among others, have requisitioned few hotels owned by persons from their community and will be used for quarantine for their community,” the official informed, adding that this has eased the government’s burden as Dimapur will also cater to returnees bound for Mon and Peren.

The rates of paid quarantine centres, which are mostly private hotels in Dimapur, have been fixed according to two categories, namely category A and B.

The president of Nagaland Hotels and Restaurant Association (NHRA), Vito Awomi, informed this newspaper that there are 48 hotels in Dimapur under NHRA, out of which more than 10 have been designated as paid quarantine centres.

Awomi said that the district administration has fixed the rates but has not been finalised.

“We are encouraging everyone to comply with the rates fixed but it also depends on the individual who owns the hotel as they also have many bills to pay,” said Awomi.

According to him, many hotel owners were giving their hotels at a lower rate as they want to help the people.

According to new SOP for returnees, those persons who test negative will be sent to their home districts; and those who test positive but do not require hospitalisation and are fit to travel will also be sent to their home districts to be kept at the Covid-19 hospitals for treatment under special transportation after following all the necessary health protocols.

Those persons testing positive and showing symptoms requiring hospitalisation and not fit for travel will be shifted to the Covid hospitals of Dimapur and Kohima.

Returnees from the green zones of Northeast states—who arrived before May 18 and have completed 14 days institutional quarantine; and do not exhibit any symptoms—will be immediately released to undergo home quarantine for another 14 days without mandatory testing.

From June 4 onwards, returnees reaching the state at Dimapur either by train/air/road will be segregated district-wise at the entry point/Agri Expo site, thermally screened and those found asymptomatic will be transferred to quarantine centres in their respective districts and likewise, returnees reaching the state through Khuzama, the district task force, Kohima will make similar arrangement.