State Task Force review meeting held
Kohima, March 23 (MExN): The Nagaland State Task Force (STF) on COVID-19 has called for every citizen to strictly adhere to personal safety measures and continue to remain vigilant to avoid witnessing a second wave of the pandemic.
In a meeting held on March 22 chaired by the Chief Secretary J Alam, the STF reviewed the emerging COVID-19 situation in the country and its relation to the State of Nagaland, according to a press release from the State Directorate of Health and Family Welfare.
The Task Force reviewed the existing SOPs, status of testing and surveillance, status of COVID-19 vaccination drive and the need to enforce COVID-19 appropriate behaviors.
The country is witnessing a spike in COVID-19 cases for the past four weeks with some States going for stricter control measures to curb transmission. Similar trend has been observed globally. The detection of the SARS-COV-2 variants is also a concern in many countries, which necessitates us to be more vigilant than ever, the release stated.
While Nagaland has one of the lowest death rates in the country till date, we should not let our guards down at this crucial juncture, it added.
It also stated that the State has opened schools, colleges and relaxed many SOPs as essential services need to continue normally to sustain livelihoods.
However, it cautioned the public that “the pandemic is not yet over and the threat to our society still looms very large.”
It noted that COVID-19 comes in different waves as observed all over the world. With the opening of borders along with the relaxation of public health and safety measures, there is a need to bring additional focus on COVID-19 appropriate behaviors like wearing mask, hand washing and physical distancing, it added.
The release also stressed the need to ensure that anyone with COVID-19 like symptoms is immediately isolated and tested to avoid any super spreader event especially in schools, offices and other high-risk settings.
In addition, scientists have come up with safe and effective vaccines against COVID-19 which can prevent severe disease, hospitalizations and deaths very effectively, it informed.
“It is very critical to ensure that the high-risk population is vaccinated at the earliest as we cannot predict the timing and nature of the next wave,” the release added.
While the first wave in the State followed 3 months after the mainland, unlike last year, we now have the COVID-19 vaccine, the State Health Department said.
In this regard, it urged citizens to remain vigilant and for high-risk groups to get vaccinated in order to avoid further serious cases and deaths, hospitalizations or enforcement of drastic public health and safety measures.
Meanwhile, according to the Nagaland COVID-19 bulletin issued by the State Health and Family Welfare department, the State has only 2 active COVID-19 cases with no new positive cases or recoveries registered on Tuesday.
