ITANAGAR, Jul 21: A medical team traversed landslide-prone muddy roads and crossed a flooded river to home-quarantine a woman and her contacts in a remote village in Papum Pare district, officials said on Tuesday.
The woman had recently sneaked into neighbouring Assam’s Sonitpur district to meet her relatives without informing authorities of either state, and returned to her Karbi Colony hamlet on 18 July, sparking fears among her neighbours that she might have been infected with the coronavirus, they said.
After being alerted by the residents of Karbi Colony, a medical team led by Dr Simanto Borah of the Tarasso PHC undertook a 30-km journey to reach the hamlet on 19 July and home-quarantined the woman and her local contacts, Papum Pare DRCHO Dr Worar Taku said.
The health personnel completed a portion of the journey on motorbikes and covered the remaining distance on foot, crossing the Tarasso river, which is in spate due to floods, Dr Taku said.
“Ten people, including the woman, her family members and other local contacts, have been home quarantined. Antigen testing kits are not available at the PHC at the moment. The quarantined persons’ samples will soon be collected for Covid-19 tests,” Dr Borah told PTI.
A video of the medical team crossing the flooded river has gone viral on social media, grabbing the attention of Chief Minister Pema Khandu.
Lauding the health personnel for their dedication to work, Khandu tweeted: “Immense respect to our healthcare workers & policemen who are on #COVID19 duty even in such extreme weather conditions and in inaccessible areas. Let us stand solidly behind our #CoronaWarriors.” (PTI)
