Phub Dem  | Paro 

Two primary contacts of the positive patient in Phuentsholing, a 59-year-old man and 44-year-old woman tested positive for Covid-19 in Paro yesterday.

The couple came in search of work on August 9 to Paro from Phuentsholing.

According to a source, the positive case in Phuentsholing alerted the health ministry that the couple stayed with him while in Phuentsholing. The health surveillance team in Paro isolated the couple in a quarantine centre at around 10pm on Sunday.  They will be moved to the isolation ward in Thimphu.

The couple on reaching Paro on August 9 spent a night with their relative at Paro town and moved to their worksite next day.

Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering during a live discussion on BBS yesterday said that except for Gasa and Lhuentse, residents from 18 dzongkhags visited Phuentsholing starting August. However, late in the evening Kuensel confirmed that two people were home- quarantined in Lhuentse.

He said that the dzongkhag would enter the red zone if positive cases come from the community with no travel history. The health surveillance team in Paro has traced and quarantined nine primary contacts of the couple as of yesterday.

Kuensel learnt the couple was working in a remote area near Dakophu in Lamgong gewog which is located away from populated settlement and all their primary contacts were identified and quarantined. Health officials, meanwhile, urge people not to panic and refrain from calling health officials for testing, as it was not required and the congestion was depriving the needy ones from reaching the surveillance team.