Dimapur, March 31: Following the news of detection of a number of COVID-19 cases at St. Paul Training Institute, Phesama in Kohima district, the State Government’s publicity department, DIPR, reported on Wednesday that the Kohima district administration has issued an order declaring the institute as a Containment Zone.
The detection of 107 COVID-19 cases at the institute was included in the Health Department’s daily bulletin on Wednesday. In the previous 3 days (from Sunday to Tuesday), Nagaland recorded only 4 COVID-19 cases, according to the Department’s data.
However, a purported copy of the order issued by Deputy Commissioner of Kohima, in circulation on social media platforms, says that it was issued on March 28, which is Sunday last.
Calls made by Nagaland Page on Wednesday evening to the Deputy Commissioner of Kohima ascertain the authenticity of the order in circulation went unanswered.
This prospective discrepancy has however given rise to serious questions: were the authorities keeping the news of the outbreak in cold storage for 3 days? And to what end?
Pending confirmation of the authenticity of the DC’s order, for now it appears that Kohima district administration had declared the institute as Containment Zone three days before the Health Department made public the news of 107 new COVID-19 detections at St. Paul Training Institute, Phesama.
Or seen from the other way, the Health Department appears to have declared the outbreak of COVID cases at the institute three full days after the Kohima administration announced it as a Containment Zone.
(Page News Service)
