Coronavirus
Representative photo.

A total of 12 people from the neighbouring Bangladesh, who are stationed at Assam;’s Dhubri river port, have been screened on Monday for coronavirus.

“The Bangladeshi nationals were screened as part of the government’s strategy to prevent the outbreak of coronavirus in Dhubri district,” said the superintendent of Dhubri Civil Hospital, Dr BK Das.

“All the Bangladeshi nationals arrived here along with their vessels for carrying the stone chips brought from Bhutan,” the officials at Dhubri river port said.

“The stone chips will be transported to Bangladesh. But they are waiting for the customs clearance certificate,” the river port officials added.

Dr BK Das said the district health department has been put on high alert and a four-bedded isolation ward has already been set up at the civil hospital.

“We have put everything in place to deal with the situation arising out of the coronavirus outbreak. We have made the standby arrangements and set up isolation ward in the hospital,” the health official said.

“We have also assigned dedicated paramedics accordingly,” he added.

Das further said, “A medical screening team has been deputed in two shifts at the Dhubri river port and the team will continue screening of the travellers from Bangladesh until they leave the Indian territory.”

He urged the common people of the district not to “pay heed to any rumours over coronavirus as a vested quarter is trying to mislead the people with fake information.”

So far, not a single case of coronavirus has surfaced in the district.

However, a rapid response team for the screening of coronavirus suspected cases at the civil hospital and the river port has already been put in place, said Dhubri civil hospital superintendent Das.

Mukesh Kr Singh is Northeast Now Correspondent in Dhubri. He can be reached at: [email protected]