Health Minister Alo Libang’s announcement that random testing will be done in the Itanagar capital region to detect Covid-19 is a good decision. With the number of Covid-19 cases rising at an alarming rate in the capital region, there is an urgent need for mass random testing. Community transmission seems to have started, even though the health department officials refuse to accept it. There are so many cases of people without any travel history testing positive for Covid-19. Especially in the densely populated areas of Naharlagun and its adjoining areas, the situation is turning grim.
Health officials have claimed that all the people who tested positive are primary contacts of Covid-19 positive patients. The contact tracing team is doing an excellent job so far. But there is a need for increasing the number of teams. So far only two teams are doing contact tracing, one in Itanagar and another in Naharlagun and its adjoining areas. There is a lot of pressure on them. There should be two contact tracing teams in Itanagar and another two in Naharlagun. Further, there should be a separate team for Nirjuli and Karsingsa. As the government has announced to start random testing, the number of teams to test should be increased. In case there is shortage of manpower, the health department should explore possibilities of temporarily bringing staff from the districts where the number of Covid-19 cases is less compared to the ICR. This will ease the burden on the present team.