ES Reporter

ITANAGAR, May 25: Health minister Alo Libang has urged the people not to panic and maintain all the laid down SOPs for COVID-19. State Health Department is doing its best to fight against the pandemic, said Libang while addressing the media today.
Further speaking on  the fresh case of COVID-19, Libang said that  samples of all passengers travelling on the bus from Delhi have been taken for test.
As of now 31 have tested negative and the results of the rest are awaited, he added.
He also informed that  till now 5600 out of 11000 people who had registered online have returned from different parts of the country.  As of now a total of 5428 samples have been collected, 4557 have been tested Negative, 868 results are awaited and 2 positive cases detected of which earlier one has been discharged on April 16 in Lohit district.
Libang said that the numbers of samples collected have increased since the lockdown 4.0.  
'As a result there has been an increase in load in the laboratories resulting in the increased backlog for testing and sharing of results. However we have requested the laboratories to expedite the process and we hope that the gaps will be reduced in this coming week," he added. 
He requested the public to understand the current situation and therefore cooperate with the state government.
Highlighting more on the health facility, Health Secretary P Pratibhan said that the health department has the entire details of all 62 returnees from New Delhi and of others too. While requesting the public not to panic, he also informed that the department is collecting every single detail of the returnees from all 11 check points of the state.
“We have also kept special team to monitor those returnees kept in home quarantine. Our surveillance team is very strong and ensuring that all returnees are being monitored,” Secretary added.
Though we have testing equipment in the state, we are also lining up for more upgraded testing equipment which can test more samples at a go.
“As there is only one company in the country which makes such machine and due to Pan India demand for it, it will take time to procure it now but we are making sure that it is bought within this month,” Secretary said. He also clarified that the returnees kept in institutional quarantine is for maximum of a week. He said that the samples are collected within 3 days and sent for testing the next day.

“The testing after 3 days is done according to the ICMR guidelines as it is most possible that, if any person is exposed to the virus it will be detected easily,” he said while informing that the person is being sent for strict home quarantine after the results are found to be Negative.
According to the central government guidelines one who is asymptomatic positive case should also be kept under home quarantine. But the state government is not following it as we want to make sure that every returnee should be tested thoroughly.  
“We are following strong testing protocol in the state and following this procedure the state has made the entire SOPs to contain the spread of the pandemic,” he added.
Meanwhile, state COVID-19 Nodal Officer Dr. Lobsang Jampa requested the people and especially the returnees from other states to cooperate with the administration and health department for the safety of people.
There have been fluctuation in the numbers of returnees and accordingly the date of collecting sample may differ from 3 days to also a week, he said.
“We know and understand that the people are restless and panicking at this time. But I request the returnees to stay calm and support the health department in their endeavor in testing the samples,” he added.

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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
Phone: 0360-2212313

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