Kelzang Wangchuk | Samdrupjongkhar

Although all primary contacts of a woman, who tested positive for Covid-19 from the Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) colony on May 3 tested negative during the RT-PCR test, officials are putting in place all precautionary measures.

Schools in the town were closed since May 4. Movement of people and vehicles from the town to other gewogs in the dzongkhag was also restricted except for ferrying essential items and emergency travels.   

Health officials carried out mass Covid-19 screening at the RBP colony and T-Bank area on May 4, where officials collected about 256 samples and sent for RT-PCR test. All tested negative.

Officials also conducted an antigen test of about 246 residents at the flu clinic. All tested negative.

Officials said that the precautionary measures would remain in place, as the source of Covid-19 for the woman remains unknown.

Residents said they are concerned about how the woman tested positive, as she has no recent travel history.

They said people should remain careful because the pandemic is unpredictable. “We are worried because the source of the previous two cases was unknown and even the source of a recent case is also still not known,” a resident said.

Another resident said since the woman who tested positive was a community transmission, it would help if the health officials could carry out the mass screening not only in the town but also in all the 11 gewogs as the virus is suspected in the community.

However, health officials are still determining the source of how a woman got infected.

It was learned that the woman’s husband went to Phuentsholing to repair a vehicle on April 7 and returned on April 12. He was kept under Covid-19 surveillance scanner, tested negative to RT-PCR on April 18, and resumed his duty.

Meanwhile, the daughter of the hotel manager of the facility quarantine who tested positive on April 26 tested positive on May 4. She was already in quarantine because she was a primary contact.