Dr Vizolie Suokhrie
Atono Tsükrü Kense
Kohima | July 3
With the increase in COVID-19 positive cases even among the frontline workers, speculations and apprehensions are running high that community spread has begun in the state.
However, dispelling speculations, Principal Director, Health and Family Welfare, Dr Vizolie Suokhrie, told The Morung Express that “whatever spread is happening are all local transmission.”
So what is community spread? According to WebMD, “community transmission is when there is no clear source of origin of the infection in a new community. It happens when you can no longer identify who became infected after being exposed to someone who interacted with people from the originally infected communities.”
State Nodal Officer for IDSP, Dr Nyanthung Kikon also explained that “community transmission is when we are not sure of the disease transmission while local transmission is when we know the source of the disease.”
“People talk about community spread, but it has not happened yet in our state, and so far, the good thing is that all the suspected cases have been contained,” Dr Suokhrie stated.
He remarked that whatever spread is happening in the quarantine centres are due to the negligence on following the protocols and social distancing.
Dr Suokhrie maintained that if people do not pay heed to social distancing and safety precautions, community spread will definitely happen sooner or later.
“We have to continue to maintain social distancing, hands hygiene, cough etiquette and compulsorily wear mask in crowded places. If we don't take care of these things, community spread is bound to happen,” he asserted.
“It's an individual responsibility; we need to learn to take care of oneself and to see that it is not spread to others by following and abiding by the safety precautionary measures.”
He also reminded that COVID-19 is here to stay whether one likes it or not and “we have to learn to live with COVID-19.” “It may seem unusual to many of us but we have to adopt the new normal way as our lifestyle,” he added.
Dr Kikon also concurred that so far there is no community spread in the state except incidents of local transmission.
On the perilous effect of community transmission, he stated “when it does happen, a lot of people are at risk of getting infected. All the more reason to practice precautions.”
