Kelzang Wangchuk | Samdrupjongkhar

Nganglam drungkhag in Pemagatshel continues to detect Covid-19 positive cases from the community even after having a lockdown for more than a month. Nganglam yesterday reported 131 cases, of which 36 were from the community.

Residents said they are concerned about the rising Covid-19 positive cases from the community even after the lockdown because the lockdown was imposed to contain the spread of the virus in the community.

“Since the lockdown is also to keep the infectious people from spreading the virus in the community, we don’t understand why we still have rising cases from the community,” a resident said.

Residents said that reporting more positive cases from the community is a huge concern for the people in the drungkhag. “The present lockdown is not effective than the previous ones in containing the transmission.”

“One of the reasons for the rising community cases could be the delay in declaring the test results because the concerned officials take time to declare the results and by then, people move out assuming they tested negative if they don’t get the calls from the officials early next day,” a resident said.

The incident commander (IC) and Pemagatshel dzongdag, Yeshey Rangrik Dorjee, said most of the community cases yesterday were reported from Borkatsang in Nganglam town, Dungsam Cement Corporation Limited (DCCL) and Druk Polythene Limited (DPL) colonies.

He said the infected people staying in the building could have carried the infection as people have a misconception of Omicron being like the normal flu.

He said they would be managing the positive cases in the isolation facilities wherever possible and the primary contacts in strict home quarantine under the strict vigilance by the police and de-suups.

“We are also advocating the importance of complying strictly with the Covid-19 safety protocols even at home and avoiding gatherings with the neighbours to enable us to break the chain of transmission early,” the dzongdag said.

Meanwhile, 586 Covid-19 positive cases were reported in Nganglam as of yesterday. Of that, 277 were from the community and 309 were contacts who tested positive. A total of 336 individuals recovered since the first Covid-19 positive case was reported from the containment area since January 20.