KVC, AMK ask govt to send returnees to their districts

Both Kohima Village Council (KVC) and Angamimiapfü Mechü Krotho (AMK), in letters addressed to the state chief minister and principal secretary H&FW department respectively, have urged upon them to ensure that all stranded citizens of Nagaland returning from various states be sent off to their respective eight districts instead of being quarantined in Kohima.

KVC: In a letter to the chief minister, KVC president Dr.Neiphi Kire and secretary Zeneizo Rutsa, while placing on record the council’s “unreserved sympathy” for the three returnees tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday, pointed out that KVC had written to the chief secretary on May 22,2020 to send all returnees to their respective districts without halting for days in Kohima.

KVC reminded the chief minister of the implications of increased risks of spread of the virus to residents of Kohima if returnees coming from high risk zones were all kept together at quarantine centres in Kohima.

KVC said accommodating returnees from eight districts has added stress and workload on frontline workers especially after another batch of 84 returnees arrived Kohima on May 25. KVC said more returnees would arrive Kohima through different modes of transport in the coming days, if the current strategy of accommodating continued. It said the new arrivals would saturate present available quarantine facilities and place additional risk on those who have completed the mandatory 14-day quarantine period. 

In this regard, KVC said it took strong exception to the government’s decision to dump all transit passengers of other seven districts at the quarantine centres in Kohima when other quarantine centres in the other seven districts were already funded and set up by the respective district authorities. 

KVC informed the chief minister that it regretted that after having “succinctly” stated its sentiments to the chief secretary, there has been no consideration to its plight. 

AMK: While expressing appreciation of the state government’s efforts to bring back children (students) from various parts of the country, especially from Red Zones or crossing such cities, Angamimiapfü Mechü Krotho (AMK) has urged upon the principal secretary health and family welfare to take necessary measures to ensure that COVID-19 does not spread to colonies or villages of Nagaland in the event the virus entered the state through returnees coming from Red Zones. 

In a joint statement AMK president Kevinourheno Seyie and Shürhivino Nakhro maintained that 80% of COVID-19 affected are generally asymptomatic and unless testing was done, they can transmit the virus through contact and spreading into community transmission. 

AMK reminded that WHO’s maximum emphasis for safety was to advise to ‘Test, Test and Test.’ It said countries and states that had followed such policy had fared better in containing the virus.

Therefore, if any asymptomatic COVID-19 was allowed to go to the respective village or colony, without testing,AMK said it would result in community spread and result in huge cost in terms of manpower, financial and even loss of life. 

According to AMK, states such as Meghalaya and Manipur have made it mandatory for all their returnees coming from Red Zones , to undertake testing which it said, was a laudable exercise towards safety of their citizens and states as a whole.

However, it said in the Nagaland context, both Dimapur and Kohima were casually and carelessly made as ‘portal of entry and stay’ for huge numbers of returnees of all other districts even those coming from COVID-19 Hot Spots. AMK said this attitude provided high chances of transmitting COVID-19 and therefore, demanded that the portal of entry from the two points should be cancelled.

AMK opined that all returnees should be directly and immediately transported directly to their respective districts on arrival and tested for COVID-19 in their respective District Covid Hospitals. 

AMK asked the state government and in particular the H&FW department to take all necessary steps to test all returnees district-wise for asymptomatic cases and also ban using Dimapur and Kohima as the main entry portals to safeguard the lives of the people of Nagaland.