Chowna Mein
Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein during a meeting on Monday. Image credit - Northeast Now

Arunachal Pradesh deputy chief minister Chowna Mein on Monday took stock of the level of preparedness for the prevention of COVID-19 in the state.

Mein convened an emergency meeting with the health, planning, and finance department at his office in Itanagar on Monday.

The meeting was also attended by health minister Alo Libang, home minister Bamang Felix and top-level officials.

During the meeting, Mein said the participation of everyone in the district, community-based measures and close monitoring of the situation in the state to mitigate the spread of coronavirus diseases for the next few days are very crucial.

The deputy chief minister gave assurance that every support would be provided to the health department to carry out activities related to containing the spread of coronavirus in the state.

Also read: Coronavirus scare: Lockdown in Arunachal

Mein instructed the officers of the planning and finance departments to clear every file related to the health department without any delay so that the health department can carry out preventive measures in the state.

He appealed to the general public not to panic during the lockdown period and to follow the instruction of the state government on preventive measures to avoid the spread of COVID-19.

Mein informed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi has also taken up a lot of initiative to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country and the Centre is closely monitoring the situation in every state.

Health minister Libang informed that the state government is taking every possible preventive measure to contain the spread of coronavirus.

“The doctors, nurses and all health workers are working round the clock to monitor the situation in the state,” he said.

Home minister Felix said he is constantly monitoring the situation and assured to provide possible assistance to the health department to create awareness among the masses regarding the seriousness of the disease.

The meeting also discussed mandatory screening and monitoring of people who come from outside the state, setting up of isolation wards, medical volunteers, stock of essential commodities, testing centres, logistics and setting up of control rooms at the district and state level.

Meanwhile, a total of three samples were collected from the suspected patients of COVID-19 and the results of which are awaited.

The patients have been put under quarantine.

Damien Lepcha is Northeast Now Correspondent in Arunachal Pradesh. He can be reached at: [email protected]