Amid rising Covid cases, Nagaland's Wokha district seals borders with Assam

Guwahati: Amid a rising number of Covid-19 cases in both Nagaland and Assam, the former's Wokha district administration has ordained the closure of borders with the latter to contain the spread of the deadly contagion.

Orenthung Lotha, the Deputy Commissioner of the district on May 30 ordered that all inter-state entry points of Assam shall remain sealed except for movement of security forces and emergency medical services. Lotha also said that henceforth, the supply of all essential commodities shall be routed either through Dimapur district or Mokokchung district till further orders.

The Wokha Deputy Commissioner said that this decision has been taken "in the interest of public health and safety and abundant caution and taking into consideration about the reported spike of positive Covid-19 cases in the neighbouring state of Assam."

It needs mention here that similarly, the Nagaland government had earlier sealed the border adjoining Sivasagar and Charaideo districts in Assam, following the detection of a COVID-19 case in Sonari. Consequently, Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal telephoned his Nagaland counterpart Neiphiu Rio, seeking a reopening of the border. Sonowal said that due to the sealing of the inter- state border, the livelihood of workers engaged in the tea gardens in the border areas have been adversely affected.

Although Assam has so far reported 1,057 positive cases, around 98% of these have been detected in returnees who have been kept in institutional quarantine as per protocol. There are 925 active patients in the state who are receiving treatment for the respiratory illness, while 4 patients have been killed by the respiratory infection.

At the same time, the number of cases in Nagaland have also been ticking upwards. Moments earlier, 11 more persons from Nagaland, all returnees from Chennai who were stranded amid lockdown, have tested Covid-19 positive today, taking the tally of cases to 36. "9 are male and 2 are female. All are returnees from Chennai tested Covid-19 positive; 8 are from Dimapur and 3 are from Kohima", Nagaland Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom informed on Twitter.

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