RMRC–ICMR tests earlier 10 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in Isles as ‘Negative’

 Only one active positive case remains in Isles

Port Blair, Apr 11: The day & night hard work of Health Care Workers of GB Pant Hospital yielded desired results on 09.04.2020 when the designated laboratory for COVID-19 in A&N Islands, RMRC–ICMR, Dollygunj tested all confirmed earlier cases of COVID-19 as Negative. The first repeat tests of these 10 positive cases were conducted on 07.04.2020, the reports of which were declared as negative. Thereafter, the second repeat tests were conducted after 48 hrs on 09.04.2020, which also were reported as negative. As per the guidelines of WHO, these cases can be discharged now from the hospital as ‘cured cases’. The A&N Administration however has decided to keep all these 10 cases under observation for next 14 days in quarantine facilities being run by Administration to root out any possibility of further spread of COVID-19 in case of resurgence of infection in treated patients. 

     It is pertinent to mention that the Administration has detected 9 confirmed cases from Port Blair Airport on 24.03.2020 out of which 7 were detected from Vistara flight and 2 were from Indigo flight. One person got infected by one of the COVID-19 confirmed passenger of Indigo Flight during his home quarantine period. After discharging these 10 patients, the Administration now has only one active positive case which was detected while discharging the passengers from Government quarantine facilities on 07.04.2020.

     To further strengthen the measures to effectively prevent the spread of virus from the areas where confirmed cases were detected, it was decided to notify 3 localities of Port Blair Municipal Area as ‘Hot Spots’ i.e. Atlanta Point, Mohanpura Masjid and Biggiline area. A ‘Hot Spot’ is an area where COVID-19 positive cases were detected and are prone to spreading infection through contacts. To prevent infection, the area of 3 KM from the epicenter is locked down to prevent the virus from spreading in other areas. These areas will remain in complete lockdown position and movement of people and essential supplies will be strictly regulated as per the norms of ‘Social Distancing’. The Administration has also decided to strictly regulate the movement of people within the Districts/Islands so that the infection of COVID-19 can be contained locally and prevented from spreading in other two Districts namely N&M Andaman District and Nicobar District including Hut Bay, Swaraj and Shaheed Dweep of South Andaman District. The Administration will allow movement of persons to these territories from South Andaman District for emergency services and that is also after having a negative tested certificate of COVID-19.

     Further, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has also launched an App ‘AarogyaSetu’, a mobile application developed by the Government of India to connect essential health services with the people of India in our combined fight against COVID-19. The App is aimed at augmenting the initiative of the Government of India, particularly the Department of Health, in proactively reaching out to and informing the users of the App regarding risks, best practices and relevant advisories pertaining to the containment of COVID-19. All citizens of Islands have been requested to download the app to contribute in our fighting against the COVID-19.