Staff Reporter
ITANAGAR, May 25: As the state struggles to test samples for Covid-19 after testing was made mandatory for all returnees, the health department has made an appeal to those stranded outside the state to defer their journey back home, if possible.
Citing various reasons and asking for patience, IDSP State Surveillance Officer Dr L Jampa, in a press statement said, “I also make a strong appeal to those who are still stranded outside the state to kindly defer their journey”.
He said that 5600, out of the 11000 who had registered online, have returned from different parts of the country, which has led to increased load in the laboratories, resulting in increased backlog for testing and sharing of results.
He said that “we have requested the laboratories to expedite the process and we hope that the gaps will be reduced in the coming week”.
The state has seen a huge jump in sample collection since it made testing mandatory for all the returnees.
Meanwhile, Dr Jampa informed that the person who tested for Covid-19 is currently asymptomatic and will be taken care of at a Covid care center as per the standard operating procedure.
Responding to a query from this daily, the health secretary said that results of the 23 samples of those people that travelled from Delhi with the Covid-19 positive person would be ready by tonight.
The testing labs in Naharlagun- TRIHMS and IRL are working 24×7, Health Secretary P Parthiban said.
“Some 400 samples are tested in the labs per day,” he added.
“Do not discriminate”
The heath department has urged the people of the state not to panic and restrain from discriminating anybody who has been detected positive for Covid-19 and those who have returned back to the home-state.
“We all need to understand that they are our own people”, Dr Jampa said as he appealed for all to extend full cooperation in the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic.
