Coronavirus: Swift action stems outbreak in North East

All borders sealed off

Early lockdown and restriction on outside visitors have helped the Northeastern states prevent the spread of coronavirus with only two cases reported so far, one each in Manipur and Mizoram.

Five other states - Assam, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Tripura and Arunachal Pradesh have not reported any COVID-19 postive cases. However, the fear about the spread of the virus from a large number of people who returned from affected states like Kerala, Karnataka and Maharashtra has deepened.

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Assam was the first to go into a tizzy when a 76-year-old tourist from the US, who visited the state was tested positive for coronavirus in neighbouring Bhutan on March 5. The administration immediately put nearly 400 of his contacts into quarantine, sanitised the entire floor of a five star hotel in Guwahati, a resort in Jorhat and a luxury cruise on the Brahmaputra, which he had used before boarding a Bhutan’s Druk Air Flight from Guwahati.

All the contacts, however, have completed their quarantine period and tested negative for the virus.

Arunachal Pradesh was quick to close the border haats (markets bordering China and Myanmar) and cancelled the permits issued to visitors (both foreign and Indian) under the Inner Line Permit (ILP) system on March 9, fearing spread of coronavirus.

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Manipur, Nagaland and Mizoram, three other states having ILP too followed suit and subsequently declared lockdown more than 48-hours before Prime Minister Narendra Modi announced the same for the entire country.

The fear was more palpable in the Northeast as it shares 99% of its borders with four nations--China, Myanmar, Bhutan and Bangladesh.

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Meghalaya set an example by opening an online portal through which people could disclose their travel history for quarantine and necessary tests.

Assam closed her entry gates and stopped nearly 1,000 people, who returned from the COVID-19 affected states near the Assam-West Bengal inter-state borders.

Assam Health Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on March 26 said these people would be lodged in the makeshift quarantine centres being set up in two sports complexes in Guwahati. He, however, admitted that the situation could be out of control if there is a sudden rise in positive cases as the state’s hospitals are still not equipped with necessary facilities. “We are trying to procure a sufficient number of personal protection equipment, test kits, ventilators and beds to cater to the situation,” he said.

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Health department officials in Manipur and Mizoram said the condition of the two COVID-19 positive persons was stable and they were under close observation. A 23-year-old girl from Manipur, who returned from London was tested positive on March 14, while a pastor, aged about 50 years, who returned from Amsterdam was found positive the next day.