Kohima: Urging people not to panic, the Nagaland government on Saturday said it was fully prepared if a fourth wave of the COVID-19 pandemic hits the state. Addressing a press conference, state health commissioner and secretary Y Kikheto Sema said the state was fully prepared with better infrastructure and manpower to fight the emerging challenges. He said,
A sharp rise in COVID-19 cases has been reported in the country in the last four weeks, but Nagaland has not reported any case.
Also Read: Variant Is Mild, But People Should Wear Masks When They Go Out: Expert On Rising COVID Cases
The government is in touch with the states, including Assam, where cases have been increasing, he added. There is no need to panic as the fourth wave of the pandemic is not as severe as the first and second waves, Mr. Sema claimed. Nagaland was ill-prepared and caught by surprise during the first wave of the pandemic, he said, maintaining that the state’s health infrastructure has been revamped to a large extent. He said,
We are fully prepared to face any challenge and there is no need to panic as far as Nagaland is concerned.
The last COVID-19 case was detected in the state on February 11, he said. In all, the state reported 35,988 cases and 856 deaths, the official said. A mock drill on COVID preparedness will be conducted on April 10 and 11, he said.
We will not allow our people to be victims of the virus like the first two waves, because we now have better infrastructure and manpower.
Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP) Nyanthung Kikon said the state was testing all Severe Acute Respiratory Illness (SARI) cases for COVID-19. Meanwhile, Sema said the recruitment of the teachers and other staff for the state’s first medical college in Kohima would be completed by the end of this month, and all attempts were being made to ready the infrastructure by June.
Representatives of the National Medical Council (NMC) have inspected the works for the college twice in the last three months, and the final approval for the commencement of academic activities is awaited.
Also Read: Delhi Government Hospitals Carry Out Mock Drills To Assess Covid Preparedness
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol have been working towards a clean and healthy India since 2014 via the Banega Swachh India initiative, which is helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. The campaign aims to highlight the inter-dependency of humans and the environment, and of humans on one another with the focus on One Health, One Planet, One Future – Leaving No One Behind. It stresses on the need to take care of, and consider, everyone’s health in India – especially vulnerable communities – the LGBTQ population, indigenous people, India’s different tribes, ethnic and linguistic minorities, people with disabilities, migrants, geographically remote populations, gender and sexual minorities. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign will continue to raise awareness on the same along with focussing on the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children, fight malnutrition, mental wellbeing, self care, science and health, adolescent health & gender awareness. Along with the health of people, the campaign has realised the need to also take care of the health of the eco-system. Our environment is fragile due to human activity, which is not only over-exploiting available resources, but also generating immense pollution as a result of using and extracting those resources. The imbalance has also led to immense biodiversity loss that has caused one of the biggest threats to human survival – climate change. It has now been described as a “code red for humanity.” The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene. Banega Swasth India will also be taking forward the dream of Swasth Bharat, the campaign feels that only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and the country can become a Swasth or healthy India.
