ES Reporter  

ITANAGAR, May 28:  The state government on Friday extended the containment (lockdown) in seven districts including the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR) till June 7 following a surge in COVID-19 cases. 
The lockdown in the ICR, Tawang, Lower Subansiri, Namsai, Upper Subansiri, Lohit and Anjaw districts was to end on May 31. The decision was taken at the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) meeting, held under the chairmanship of Chief Minister Pema Khandu to assess the coronavirus situation and review the preparedness of the state. Taking to Twitter, the chief minister said, "Following deliberations, it was clear that Arunachal Pradesh is yet to come out of the danger zone and we must continue to take strict measures to contain the spread of the disease and save precious lives. In greater public interest, we must all continue to take evidence and science-based decisions in tailoring our public health response." The meeting also decided to identify one health facility in every assembly constituency for upgrading it with the necessary equipment, officials said.
Steps are being taken to create 1,000 oxygen beds by July, besides upgrading the six 100 litres per minute (LPM) PSA plants in Ziro, Tawang, Tezu, Yingkiong, Seppa, and Aalo. The meeting also agreed to make the 500 LPM Pressure Swing Adsorption (PSA) oxygen plant functional at the Dedicated Covid Hospital (DCH) in Chimpu, near here, besides setting up 600 LPM plants in 19 hospitals and approved liquid medical oxygen (LMO) storage units at five strategic locations. It was further decided to ramp up the number of oxygen beds at Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) and at DCH Chimpu, the officials said. It was also decided that massive testing, tracking, and treating would be vigorously taken up to curb the spread of the disease. Over three lakh people have been vaccinated in Arunachal Pradesh and there are plans to inoculate more than 1.5 lakh people in the next 30 days. The state has enough stock of essential medicines, they said.
While speaking to a news channel today, Minister for Health & Family Welfare Alo Libang informed that the containment period has been extended after hearing the suggestions and requests from the various districts during the meeting of  the State Disaster Management Authority.  “ We understand the pain of the public, how it affects the daily wage earners and  business  community, students and common people, but containment is for the welfare of the denizens to protect them from the virus,” Libang said.  Along with COVID testing our efforts are also in vaccinating the denizens, added the Minister.
He further informed that, as of now only 14% of people took the first dose and 4% completed their second dose of vaccination. The vaccine for the 45+ years is available in the state, however for 18 to 44 years it will be available next week, Libang informed. With PTI inputs

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Kenter Joya Riba

(Managing Editor)
      She is a graduate in Science with post graduation in Sociology from University of Pune. She has been in the media industry for nearly a decade. Before turning to print business, she has been associated with radio and television.
Email: kenterjoyaz@easternsentinel.in / editoreasternsentinel@gmail.com
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