Nagaland’s COVID-19 Status as of 3PM, September 10. (IDSP/DOHFW Nagaland)
Morung Express News
Dimapur | September 10
After almost a month of reporting relatively low daily COVID-19 cases, Nagaland has witnessed a sharp surge in cases on September 9 and 10. On September 9, Nagaland reported 130 cases, the first since August 14 when the state last registered 3-digit figures (156 cases) in a day. It was followed up with 261 cases today.
Accounting for over 40 percent of the total cases, the initial surge in cases was largely attributed to the armed forces. A significant drop in daily reported cases was affected after the Nagaland government and the armed forces reportedly came to an understanding, in early August, for the latter to temporarily put a plug on fresh arrival of troops or rescheduling arrivals till September.
Since then, there has been a steady decline in cases and the month of August reported on average 25 cases a day.
Now, the current surge has been attributed to the Nagaland Police (NP) personnel returning to the state after deployment in West Bengal.
According to the Health Department, 173 out of the 391 positive cases reported on September 9 and 10 were NP personnel, who have returned after serving in Purulia, West Bengal. It included 41 on September 9 and 132 on September 10.
An official said that more cases from the NP unit is expected in the coming days but added that there should be no cause for panic as preventive protocol was applied. “There should be no cause for panic because they are being secluded like the armed forces personnel. Plus they are all placed in Ganeshnagar (Quarantine Centre),” said the official.
Meanwhile, it was informed that the temporary stop to arrival of armed forces personnel is still in effect.
