Priority to Chennai returnees for test: APC

Agriculture Production Commissioner (APC), Y Kikheto Sema, who is also the over all in-charge of Dimapur district for COVID-19 related activities, Friday said that priority for swab test would be given to Chennai returnees.

When contacted over phone, Kikheto told Nagaland Post that till swab test on all Chennai returnees was done, the government would not test any other returnee unless they showed symptoms of COVID-19.

Kikheto said that he had received a complaint from a returnee from Haryana, who said though he had been in the quarantine centre for three-four days, he was not yet tested. Sema maintained it was not necessary to test every returnee if the individual had no symptoms of coronavirus.  Kikheto said the BSL-3 had a capacity to test a maximum of 90 samples per day, and so it would take 10 to 11 days to test all Chennai returnees.

On reports about some NGOs against keeping returnees of other districts undergoing quarantine, he lamented that Dimapur cannot carry the cross of all other districts. In order to accommodate thousands of other returnees, he said there was need to send returnees tested negative for COVID-19 and who have completed quarantine period. Kikheto disclosed that he had already spoken with deputy commissioners of Mon and Peren districts and to take the returnees of their respective districts.