Dimapur's shops and businesses turning into COVID-19 hotspots?

Guwahati: Dr. Tiasunep Pongener, the Chief Medical Officer Dimapur today stated that most of the COVID-19 hotspots in Nagaland's commercial hub, Dimapur, are located near the shops and businesses.

Pongener stated that most of the deaths have been reported among persons who are involved in businesses and shops in Dimapur, considered the commercial hub of the Northeast Indian state. He further added that this points to the fact that most of the transmissions have been reported in areas near the shopping complexes.

The CMO, in an appeal to the people of Dimapur, informed the citizenry that the ongoing lockdown has been imposed at the "right time" so as to save everyone from getting infected during shopping/marketing/loitering/roaming around, etc and coming in contact with people exposed to the COVID-19 in the "hotspots."

Observing that the number of fatalities is on the rise, the CMO called for support and cooperation from the public in their investigation and contact tracing and in their efforts to collect data on the field at any time of the day.

He appealed the public to contain and control the spread of the virus through pre-emptive measures so as to buy the administration some time so that a vaccine can be developed. The CMO also urged the people of the state to take the Government-prescribed measures (such as the wearing of masks) seriously so as to mitigate the spread of the virus in the so-called COVID-19 hotspots across Dimapur.

"If the trend continues, then we are headed to a point of no return with devastating after-effects and loss of many lives," he said, adding, "We are requesting all our citizens to follow precautionary measures such as social distancing, wearing of a mask, hand hygiene, use of sanitizers, not spitting everywhere, not loitering around, no mass gathering etc."

The mortality rate in the state of Nagaland, one of the last to report instances of the deadly COVID-19, is now rising at a steady and alarming rate. While the number of active cases in 931, and the number of recovered patients is 577, the number of fatalities is 4.

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