Khonsa jail declared as containment zone after spike among inmates

ITANAGAR: The sub-jail in Khonsa, the headquarters of the Tirap district in Arunachal Pradesh has been declared a containment zone after 20 of its inmates tested positive for COVID-19.

"The cases were detected through rapid antigen tests carried out on Wednesday and Thursday," the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) officer of the district informed.

The district administration has accordingly declared the entire jail premises as a containment zone for the next 14 days from Thursday so as to prevent and contain the spread of the infection.

An order issued from Tirap Deputy Commissioner K Tikhak said that no individual shall enter or exit the zone during the 14-day-period and till the contact tracing process is completed.

"The buffer zone for the containment shall be declared upon the findings of the contact tracing initiated by the district medical officer (DMO) and recommendation if any. The entire area shall be barricaded and cordoned off and the entry and exit shall be regulated by the security deployed," the order from the DC read.

"The security personnel shall ensure that no person moves out of the area until a further order is issued or the movement is approved by the DC and DMO for medical emergencies," the order added.

Meanwhile, the DMO has also been asked to constitute a rapid response team to carry out the contact tracing process and rapid antigen, RT-PCR and TrueNat tests on all the inmates and security personnel deployed in the sub-jail, the officer added.

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