Amidst the attempt by the government of Arunachal to bring back the stranded Arunachalees, the report of an MBBS student from Arunachal, studying in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh, testing positive for Covid-19 has come as a major shock. The student is asymptomatic and currently in quarantine. The government is working out a plan to bring back stranded citizens and in the first phase people stranded in other northeastern states will be brought back in batches. The problem is that many of the Arunachalees stranded outside will be coming from states where large numbers of Covid-19 cases have been detected.
In many of the instances, the Covid-19 positive cases have been found to be asymptomatic. This makes it very difficult for the health workers to detect and also leads to rampant spread of the virus. The state government is claiming that it has enough facilities to keep all the people in quarantine centres. But the reports coming from places like the PTC in Banderdewa do not augur well. People on social media are claiming that the quarantine centre set up at the PTC is not upto mark and that it will also not be able to absorb all the incoming people. Therefore the state government should not bring back the stranded Arunachalees unless and until they are fully prepared. Everyone sympathizes with the stranded citizens of the state but policy-level decisions should not be taken emotionally. Any decision has to be backed by proper plan, so that everything is in order before the stranded citizens are brought back to the state.