Staff reporter 

A truck driver tested Covid-19 positive from the State Mining Corporation Limited’s (SMCL) self-containment area at Khothakpa in Pemagatshel yesterday.

The driver tested positive during the weekly surveillance.

He ferries gypsum to Samdrupjongkhar from Pemagatshel for the SMCL.

The medical teams are carrying out contact tracing and about 130 truck drivers ferrying gypsum for the SCML were quarantined at Denchi.

The teams also quarantined the staff of the hotels where the truck drivers had meals at Denchi.

The incident commander (IC) and Pemagatshel dzongdag, Yeshey Rangrik Dorjee, said the surveillance team is working hard to trace the contacts and carry out the risk assessment and case investigations.

“The lockdown in Pemagatshel will depend on the results of samples collected from the contacts. We will also seek guidance from the Eastern Covid-19 Task Force before announcing the lockdown,” he said.

This is the second Covid-19 positive case in Pemagatshel.

The first positive case was detected on January 29 when a frontline worker tested Covid-19 positive at the Tshobali outpost.