Covid-19 tests made mandatory for truckers entering Arunachal Pradesh

Guwahati: Amid the dramatic rise in the number of COVID-19 cases in Arunachal Pradesh, the Government has made it mandatory for all the truck drivers and their staffs to undergo rapid antigen testing for Covid-19 before entering into the state.

Chief Minister Pema Khandu, informing about this new development, tweeted, "Rapid antigen tests for truckers. All truck drivers and their staffs to undergo mandatory testing before they enter Arunachal." He also shared a video of the tests being performed on truckers at Banderdewa interstate check gate.

Meanwhile, the COVID-19 tally in Arunachal Pradesh has soared past the 1,000-case mark on Saturday, July 25, health department officials said. The state's tally breached the mark after 65 more people, including 33 security personnel tested positive.

Of the fresh cases, thirty were reported from Papum Pare district, five from Tirap, three from Lohit, two from Lower Dibang Valley and one each from Namsai and West Kameng and 23 from the Capital Complex region, State Surveillance Officer Dr. L Jampa said. With these fresh cases, the number of infections has spiked upwards to 1,056.

Jampa further informed that of the five fresh patients in Tirap, two are state police personnel. He further added that a healthcare worker, an employee of the Water Resources Department and a returnee from Assam also tested positive for the virus.

The three fresh cases in Lohit district are staffers of the Border Road Task Force, (BRTF) who had recently come from Uttar Pradesh and were in a quarantine centre. The state surveillance officer said the two patients from Roing in Lower Dibang Valley district are returnees from Assam, while the person from West Kameng is a staffer of the Army, who recently came from Andhra Pradesh. The Namsai patient had also returned from Assam, he said.

Jampa further added that fifty-eight patients were discharged after recovering from the virus. The state now has 661 active cases, while 392 people have recovered from the disease and three died of the infection.

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