No cause for panic, we are on the job, says Health Minister
Morung Express News
Dimapur | March 31
A document, supposedly “secret,” containing a list of phone numbers, hit social media on March 31. The numbers, as per the document, were based on phone locations of people, who were believed to have been in the vicinity of a “suspected COVID-19 transmission” site in New Delhi between March 14 and March 21.
The document, the authenticity of which could not be officially verified, stated, “the list is based on phone numbers and the attached address may or may not be the current place of residence of the person holding the phone number.” It featured no letterhead or date as to specify source.
It also added, “Some phone numbers may just have passed by the area under consideration.”
But the purported disclaimer failed to quell public curiosity, generating a trail of anxiety on social media as phone numbers registered in Nagaland were also found.
With anxiety mounting on social media and no word from the state government, attempts were made by The Morung Express to contact government officials and the Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) Minister.
Health department officials as well as the Minister said that they were aware of the anxious queries generated by the “document” though stopping short as to comment on its authenticity.
One Health official said that some of the listed people from Nagaland were already in quarantine after returning here, while a few were in quarantine in Delhi. He added that there was no cause for panic.
H&FW Minister S PangnyuPhom said that he was aware of the development and had instructed department officials to inquire. While neither admitting nor denouncing as to the document’s veracity, he maintained that he was on the job and some of the people listed have been traced and necessary precautionary measures taken as dictated by health protocol.
Meanwhile, there were reports of urban councils already on the job of tracing the listed people to help quarantine them.
