Returnees arrive to Dimapur Railway Station during the lockdown in 2020. (Morung file Photo)
Kohima, April 13 (PTI) Nagaland Tuesday reported 11 new COVID-19 cases, pushing the tally to 12,427, a health department official said.
The state currently has 174 active COVID-19 cases, the official said.
"11 +ve cases of COVID-19 reported today. Dimapur-7, Kohima- 2, Phek- Wokha- 1 each. And, 3 +ve patients have recovered. Kohima- 2, Dimapur- 1, said Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom in a tweet.
With three more COVID-19 patients recovering from the disease, the total number of recoveries in the state rose to 11,995, the official said.
The COVID-19 recovery rate is 96.52 per cent, said State Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme, Dr Nyanthung Kikon in the daily COVID-19 bulletin.
The death toll in the state is 93, while 165 patients have migrated to other states, he said. Nagaland has so far tested a total of 1,38,968 samples for COVID-19, including 75,851 on RT-PCR, 37,619 on TrueNat and 25,498 on Rapid Antigen Test, he said.
Meanwhile, State Immunisation Officer Dr Ritu Thurr said a total of 92,626 people have been administered the COVID-19 vaccine, of which 39,751 are frontline workers, 12,761 healthcare professionals, 22,120 senior citizens and 17,994 people above 45 years.
Among those inoculated 19,315 frontline workers, 8,830 healthcare workers, 1,093 senior citizens and 546 persons above 45 years have received the second shot of COVID-19 vaccine, Thurr said.
Interacting with reporters here on Tuesday, Principal Director of the Health and Family Welfare Department, Dr Kevichusa Medikhru said that Nagaland is yet to face the second wave of COVID-19 infection but with the increasing trend of the infection the department is geared up for any challenges.
"We were caught unaware when COVID-19 first hit the state but this time we are gearing up to face any challenges that would come with the second wave of the infection," he said.
"We have to be very careful against the second wave and new strain," he said, adding that "we cant say we are fully prepared but already groundworks are being carried and we don't want to be caught unaware".
He called upon all not to lower the guard but continue to follow the COVID-19 appropriate behaviour like use of face mask, hand hygiene and maintaining social distancing.
No new variant of the virus has been detected so far in the state but sample collection is being done for genome sequencing to identify the new strain, he said.
Dr Medikhru also informed that the Health Department on April 3 has issued an advisory to all District Task Force on COVID-19 to conduct random sampling and testing of COVID-19 in view of the impending second wave of the virus in the state and to assess the trend of COVID-19 transmission and prevalence in the community.
Dimapur district has already started the same while other districts would also follow, he said.
He said currently the challenge faced by the department is contact tracing as those detected positive are not willing to reveal their contacts due to stigma. The principal director appealed to the community in general to come forward for testing so as to curb the spread of the virus.
On availability of COVID-19 vaccine, the principal director said "there is no shortage of the vaccine in the state while the Government of India is willing to give us more vaccines".
On the possibility of lockdown in the state, he said if cases continue to increase the department may recommend area wise lockdown and not statewide as lockdowns affect the economy of the state in general.
He said that the one year of COVID-19 has impacted the essential health services throughout the state as the district hospitals were turned into COVID-19 hospitals.
These have given rise to non-communicable diseases and also increase in maternal mortality rate in the state as pregnant women were hesitant to go to hospitals for delivery of the fear of contracting the virus, he said.
However, now all the district hospitals have been asked to make alternate arrangements for COVID-19 care centres with critical care centres so that the district hospitals can function normally for general health services.
