Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Mar 28: There are no cases of Covid-19 in Arunachal yet, according to the state surveillance officer, IDSP.
However, only 19 persons have been tested in the state. While 12 samples have returned negative results, the results of the remaining seven are awaited.
The state does not have a testing facility.
Twenty-three patients suffering from acute respiratory illness (ARI) are in the ‘flu clinics’. These clinics were set up after the outbreak of the coronavirus. A total of 334 persons have been screened at the clinics.
Health experts say that very few tests have been carried out across the country because of the strict testing protocol. According to the protocol issued by the Centre, all symptomatic persons (fever, cough, difficulty in breathing) within 14 days of international travel are to be tested. All symptomatic contacts of confirmed cases, symptomatic healthcare workers, and all hospitalized patients with severe ARI (fever and cough and/or shortness of breath) are to be tested.
Asymptomatic direct and high-risk contacts of a confirmed case should be tested once between day 5 and day 14 of coming in his/her contact. Direct and high-risk contacts include those who live in the same household with a confirmed case and/or healthcare workers who examined a confirmed case without adequate protection as per the WHO recommendations.
The experts say not enough tests are being carried out in the country because there are not enough kits.
In Arunachal, according to the state government’s statistics, 27 persons have been quarantined in various quarantine facilities while 31 have completed 14 days of quarantine in these facilities.
As per definition, there are three suspected cases.
The state has 80 isolation facilities with 934 beds, and 67 quarantine facilities with 2273 beds.
