Demand for total lockdown grows louder in Nagaland as Covid-19 cases surge

Our Correspondent
Kohima, May 10 (EMN): As Covid-19 cases and fatalities continue to increase in the state, particularly in Dimapur and Kohima, demand for imposition of total lockdown is getting louder as various organisations think that it is required to break the chain of transmission, despite knowing the hardship it could bring like last year.

The government has not announced total lockdown for the state but it had already declared Dimapur and Kohima as containment zones and issued consolidated guidelines for the entire state, while several district task forces and administrations had imposed night curfew to contain the spread of the virus.

The Sumi Hoho on Wednesday urged the state government through a representation to the chief minister to “immediately impose complete lockdown of the state for a period of at least 10 days in order to break the chain of community spreading in the larger interest and safety of the citizens of Nagaland”.

While lauding the state government’s machineries and the frontline workers for their unceasing effort to contain the spread of Covid-19, it said “we cannot deny the fact that community spread is endangering the lives of the entire state” with positive cases and casualties surging day by day.

KVC wants total lockdown in Kohima, Dimapur

The Kohima Village Council (KVC) has also written to the deputy commissioner and chairman of Kohima District Tasks Force (DTF) to immediately impose total lockdown in Kohima and Dimapur in view of the surge in Covid-19 cases.

‘We are all well aware that, our Government and all stakeholders in this pandemic are at a war footing, to contain this deadly disease. But to our total surprise and concern, the rate of increase of Covid-positive cases in our state, especially (in) Kohima and Dimapur is creeping up in the graph of the daily bulletin which is a great concern to everyone,’ read the letter.

‘We also feel that immense community spreading is happening, and random testing is proving us that; instead of the disease being contained, it is alarmingly increasing day by day,’ it added.

While expressing its concern, the KVC pointed out that the best remedy to break the chain of transmission at this juncture is ‘total lockdown and confine the citizens to safety’.