New Delhi: First case of COVID19 has been reported from Nagaland. The patient has tested positive in a Guwahati hospital, where he was referred to by doctors in Dimapur.
Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma tweeted: “A private hospital in Dimapur, Nagaland referred a patient to GMCH after he was found with symptoms of COVID19. He has tested positive and is undergoing treatment”.
Nagaland government – run by NDPP-BJP coalition has quickly plunged into action and privately-run Zion Hospital, where the patient had initially been visited in Dimapur, has been sealed. A state government official told ‘Organiser’ – “The entire Marwari Patty and Ghorapatty areas have been sealed. Members of the joint family of the patient have been shifted to Nagaland government quarantine centre in Dimapur”.
The patient had reportedly flown into Dimapur from Kolkata on March 24 and after few days, developed symptoms for COVID-19. The patient was then admitted to the private hospital in Dimapur and later referred to Guwahati for the test. According to the sources, the sample tested positive on April 11.
Nagaland Health minister S. Pangnyu Phom is personally monitoring the the situation, sources said. Meanwhile, contact tracing has been started for all passengers who were on the same flight from Kolkata to Dimapur on March 24.
Dimapur civic authorities have also ordered that the wholesale market at Guwahati-Shillong Road in Dimapur and the retail shops in the locality will remain closed until further directives. “We appeal all citizens not to panic (in Dimapur and Nagaland) as necessary precautionary measures are taking place to tackle the current situation….,” said Y Kikheto Sema, a senior IAS officer in the Special Committee on COVID19 in Nagaland…For obvious reasons, reports of the positive COVID19 case spread like wildfire leaving citizens and authorities wondering whether Nagaland health system was effective enough to tackle the challenges thrown by COVID-19.
There is also apprehension over transportation of various commodities from Assam and other states through Golaghat (in Assam) where some COVID-19 cases were reported. The government of Nagaland has also decided to establish two Bio Safety Laboratory (BSL) one in capital Kohima (under Level 3) and the other in Dimapur (under Level 2), sources said.
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