Since the confirmation of the country’s first Coronavirus (COVID-19) case on Thursday night, the health ministry tested 126 suspects for the disease. This includes those who had direct contact with the American tourist as well as other people with symptoms of COVID-19.
The Health Ministry shared this at the 6th Press Briefing on COVID-19 held yesterday afternoon.
“Out of the 126 suspects that we have tested, 45 are the ones who had no contact with the 76-year-old man. They were tested as they showed similar symptoms of the disease at the flu clinic. And we have tested about 55 primary contacts of the infected American. All tested negative,” said Dechen Wangmo, the Health Minister.
Although all individuals linked to the only COVID-19 patient in the country tested negative for the virus, health workers will continue to monitor their status. They will be tested again if found symptomatic while under quarantine. If not, the second test will be conducted only on the 7th day. The primary contacts are being quarantined at the identified quarantine places in Punakha, Paro and Thimphu.
Lyonpo also assured of enough Coronavirus test kits with the health ministry.
“We have enough test kits at the moment for the people that we have to test but we are also getting 1500 test kits probably by tomorrow provided by the WHO. It should be here by tomorrow,” Lyonpo added.
The Health Ministry has saved around Nu 40 M to be used for various programmes related to the disease. The budget was raised after the ministry cancelled all its conferences, workshops and ex-country travels since 20th January this year.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said, as of now, contact tracing and management is only the major challenge associated with the disease.
“One of the biggest problems is that the infected person had contact with around 48 people in Paro, Thimphu, and Punakha. Out of this many people, if one of them get the disease, it will be very difficult to trace all the primary contacts of the following person. There is every chance that it can be spread all across the country. However, for now, it is a best-case scenario for us as we only have one case detected and that too from a foreigner,” Lyonchhen said.
The Prime Minister, once again, emphasized that there are adequate fuel, LPG and essential food stocks available in the country. Its supply will not be a major issue considering the goodwill Bhutan shares with India.
Passang Dorji
