Aruncahl Pradesh chief minister Pema Khandu on Tuesday said there are possibilities that the state may have more COVID19 cases in the coming days, but the “people of the state should not panic and instead be mentally prepared for it”.
“I request the people not to panic even if there is a rise in the number of COVID19 positive cases in Arunachal in the future,” Khandu said in a video message on Tuesday evening.
“I assure that the state government is well prepared and equipped to handle any situation in regards to the virus,” he added.
Khandu said the state government has put in place a robust mechanism with all the standard operating procedures to prevent the spread of the virus in the state.
“Right from the institutional quarantine facilities to the dedicated Covid Care Centre and State Covid Hospital, the state is capable of tackling any situation that may arise in the future,” the chief minister said.
“If the support continues, we a Team Arunachal can make sure that the coronavirus does not spread in the state,” he said.
Khandu said with the easing of lockdown measures, a lot of people are returning to the state from different parts of the country.
“Around 6,000 people have returned to the state so far. As intuitional quarantine has already been made mandatory for the returnees, we are also making sure that everyone goes through the real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests,” the chief minister said.
He urged the health officials, village chiefs and those from the village committees to strictly monitor those whose tests have come out to be negative and are presently in home quarantine.
The chief minister further said the lone COVID19 patient of the state is asymptomatic and is recovering well in the Covid Care Centre.
A student who returned to the state from Delhi on May 18 had tested positive for COVID19 on Sunday.
This is the second COVID19 positive case reported from the state after a 31-year-old man was discharged from hospital in April post-recovery.
The man from Medo village had attended the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi’s Nizamuddin in March after which he was tested positive for coronavirus infection on April 1.
A total of 5,997 samples have so far been collected from the state for testing out of which 4,963 have tested negative.
The results of 1,031 samples are awaited.