Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, Mar 31: Returnees to the state who have been put under home quarantine are not strictly following the quarantine guidelines and possibly exposing their families to infection, the health department informed on Tuesday.
The department issued the statement based on reports provided by the flying squads constituted under the capital complex district medical officer. The squads are engaged in making house-to-house visits since 30 March to ensure that home quarantine is maintained.
The coordination officer for quarantine facility management, Dr Gomi Basar, informed that “this could lead to possible infection to the whole family of the person and therefore there is need for the whole house to be quarantined.”
“Now there will be a very higher number of people who have to be quarantined. It is the prediction of second stage infection or community spread, in case there is a possible infection,” he said, adding that the department is trying its best to control possible infection.
Dr Basar also said there is the possibility of infection among the drivers/carriage drivers who travel to other states and return to the district headquarters.
“They can become potential dangerous candidates for spreading of the infection. There is a need to ensure that their activities are maintained and a roster of their duties produced. They should make a travel log of wherever they are going and, if possible, a quarantine routine for them should also be made mandatory,” he said.
Dr Basar had earlier stated that in order to stop the spread of Covid-19 in the state, all travellers should be treated as potential carriers, “as they are the only source from where infection is going to enter Arunachal.”
“Though we are a little late now, if complete shutdown can be enforced for two weeks, followed by partial lockdown after that, it may be more impactful,” he suggested.
Meanwhile, during a coordination meeting on the Covid-19 containment plan, held at the mini-secretariat here on Sunday, it was decided to carry out ‘active contact tracing’ at the community level.
Flying squads comprising medical staffers and frontline workers such as ASHAs and anganwadi workers (AWW) will be conducting active contact tracing by making house-to-house visits from 30 March onwards and ensuring that home quarantine is strictly maintained.
Teams of four medical staffers, ASHAs and AWWs will carry out contact tracing in every colony and sector.
The teams will be engaged in planning, managing and supervising active contact tracing activities, provide consultation to any home-quarantined person on call, facilitate transportation of any home-quarantined person to dedicated quarantine facilities, and attend to the flu clinics.
