Nagaland action group
A view of the meeting of the special action group on Covid-19 in Kohima. Image credit – Northeast Now

A meeting of the special action group on Covid-19 or coronavirus reviewed the preventive measures against the pandemic in his office chamber in Kohima on Wednesday.

The meeting was held under the chairmanship of Nagaland home commissioner Abhijit Sinha.

The Nagaland government on Tuesday formed the nine-member group under the home commissioner to continuously monitor any situation arising out of novel coronavirus.

Sinha directed the department concerned to collect information like contact details, address and travel history of all passengers arriving at Dimapur Airport in order to monitor them constantly.

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He said altogether 11 road entry points into the state had been identified and the deputy commissioners of the respective districts had been directed to start the screening process at the earliest.

Besides screening, he directed the police forces to collect details of all persons entering the state to enable the monitoring process.

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He said the Dimapur Task Force, in coordination with the railway authorities, has made a single exit point and barricaded all other exit points at Dimapur railway station to enable screening of all the arriving passengers.

Sinha also directed all the deputy commissioners to send directives to all the village councils, ward authorities and tribal hohos to report the entry of any person from outside since March 1.

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The home commissioner disclosed that all 49 foreign tourists who had entered Nagaland are being monitored by the authorities concerned.

Sinha also convened an emergency meeting with the faith-based organisations to discuss the pandemic in his office chamber in Kohima on Thursday.

Principal director, health and family welfare department, Dr Vizolie Suokhrie gave a brief detail of the department’s activities and coordination with the various line departments.

He said the training of the state police forces on the use of thermal scanners and other preventive measures has been started and that they will be ready to start the screening process at the earliest.

Suokhrie said the department has procured more ventilators and personal protection equipment, including N-95 masks and scanners, to meet the requirements of the state.

The Rural Livelihood Mission, under the rural development department, will disseminate awareness information about novel coronavirus in all local languages in coordination with the health and family welfare department.

The Mission has taken the initiative so that the awareness on Covid-19 reaches all rural and remote areas of the state.

The State Disaster Management Authority (DSMA) will release advisories and information capsules on Covid-19 through advertisements in the local print media, the Mission told the meeting.

Bhadra Gogoi is Northeast Now Correspondent in Nagaland. He can be reached at: bhadragogoi@yahoo.com