Kelzang Wangchuk | Samdrupjongkhar

Samdrupjongkhar dzongkhag’s Covid-19 task force declared a three-day lockdown in the town after a police constable tested positive for Covid-19 in the community yesterday.

The second community case was detected during the zone-wise mass screening in the town, where health officials collected more than 350 samples and sent them to the RT-PCR test.

The constable stayed in the police station along with  45 police personnel after a woman from the Royal Bhutan Police (RBP) colony tested positive on May 3.

As per the dzongkhag Covid-19 task force’s notification, the lockdown was being imposed upon the emergence of a positive case in the town from the mass screening started on May 6.

It stated all movements would be restricted except the essential suppliers, export and import, referral cases and patients discharged from the hospital.

The officials said that it is also to establish the source of infection and prevent the spread of the virus in the community.

According to sources, about 16 primary contacts of the constable were put under facility quarantine and 45 police personnel who were secondary contacts were quarantined in the police station.

Police personnel from nearest outposts and desuups are doing patrolling duties in the town at the moment.

It was learnt that about 40 police personnel are being deployed to Samdrupjongkhar from Thimphu. They are expected to reach within two days.

Meanwhile, residents said it would have been better if concerned authorities imposed lockdown when the first community case was detected on May 3.

Officials said they did not impose lockdown when a woman tested positive though it was a community transmission, because the RBP colony is a self-containment area.

Meanwhile, health officials are continuing the zone-wise mass screening.