Guwahati: The district administration of Itanagar Capital Complex has decided to impose a lockdown from Monday, 6th July, 5 am till Sunday, 12th July, 5 am, as a reactionary measure in the wake of an alarming rise in the number of COVID-19 positive cases.
Tweeting about the development, Arunachal Pradesh Chief Minister Pema Khandu said that the detailed Guidelines and Standard Operating Procedure for compliance will be issued shortly. According to the Union Health Ministry data, Arunachal Pradesh has so far witnessed 252 COVID-19 positive cases, out of which 176 cases are active and 75 are cured/discharged. A single patient in the state has died from virus-related complications.
A 43-year-old Covid-19 positive patient died in Arunachal Pradesh on Wednesday, June 24, becoming the first casualty in the state. The woman hailing from West Kameng was tested positive on Tuesday, June 23. It has been reported that she was also suffering from chronic kidney disease. She was planning for kidney surgery transplant at Delhi but due to the ongoing pandemic situation the procedure could not be done, and she returned back to the state on June 11.
The Arunachal Government's decision to once again clamp a lockdown in its capital complex is noteworthy as it comes days after the Centre issued its guidelines for Unlock Phase II, beginning from July 1, with relaxations in night curfew, provision for more domestic flights and trains, and clearance for more than five people in a shop.
Notably, neighbouring Assam's Guwahati city has also gone into lockdown mode after the detection of hundreds of cases without any travel history whatsoever. The count in Assam, by far the most populous state in the Northeast, is now inching closer to the 10,000 mark. Meanwhile, 14 deaths have been reported so far.