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Kohima, March 19 (EMN): Home Commissioner Abhijit Sinha has called upon faith-based organisations to create awareness on personal hygiene and follow precautionary measures in regard to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19).
The home commissioner was speaking at an emergency meeting with various faith-based organisations in the state on Thursday at the Secretariat Conference Hall in Kohima.
He urged citizens to minimise the number of crowd at all cost and ensure social distancing. ‘Stop hosting any programme where a lot of people gather. If necessary, weddings can also be postponed as the only weapon to fight the virus is containment and personal hygiene’, he said.
Ready to face the worst
While the main focus now is taking preventive measures, the state is also “ready to face the worst”, said Dr. Vizolie Z Suokhrie, Principal Director of department of Health and Family Welfare.
‘Nagaland is prepared well to face any eventualities. All government machineries have come together and prepared to fight against this disease. Therefore, in case of any eventualities, we should be able to take care it. If the people are able to follow preventive measures, we have won the battle. Together, we can fight this disease,’ Suokhrie said.
He informed that not a single case has been reported in the Northeast until the morning of March 19.
On shortage of hand sanitisers and surgical masks in the state, he assured that the department will try to facilitate and “bring back in the stock”. In the meantime, he urged citizens to use them judiciously.
Further, he urged faith-based organisations to take preventive measures. ‘Churches are the right platform where proper education on cough and hand hygiene can be disseminated’, he added. He also appealed to the citizens to stop the habit of spitting in public “immediately”.
The principal director informed that isolation beds have been identified in all district hospitals, besides Army and Assam Rifles hospitals.
On fake news and rumours being circulated across social media platforms, he clarified that any news regarding positive case of Covid-19 that comes from other source than the department is false.
He also pointed out the technical difficulties of setting up a laboratory for testing the diseases in the state. According to specifications, laboratory has to be set up in a protected area. It requires multiple layers ‘as labs are very infectious’. It needs to be secured and the state does not have “high-level prohibiting area”, Suokhrie added. Further, he informed that the department is trying to set up one in Dimapur, “but not immediately”.
State Nodal Officer of IDSP, Dr. Nyanthung Kikon suggested that faith-based organisations can take the lead in suspending Sunday services for a few weeks’ time and used other platforms to communicate with its members. He said that the country is now in ‘stage one of Covid-19’ and can contain the disease by following preventive measures. Representatives from churches and various church organisations participated in the meeting.
Update as on 6 pm of March 19