The 72-hour lockdown in Samdrup Jongkhar town was supposed to end today, however, with the increasing number of primary and secondary contacts of positive cases traced so far, the Samdrup Jongkhar Dzongkhag COVID-19 Taskforce decided to extend the lockdown to rule out any risk of community spread.
The town reported two cases of COVID-19 from the community since May 3. And a primary contact of the 26-year-old policeman, who tested positive on May 6, tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday. He is also a policeman. The task force traced 11 contacts so far, of which two are in the community away from the RBP colony. According to a source, he has a daughter studying in Samdrup Jongkhar Primary School. The task force also traced more than 113 secondary contacts of the case.
Meanwhile, the husband and daughter who are primary contacts of the 36-year-old woman tested positive early this morning. The woman was the first case detected from the community on May 3. The husband and the daughter tested negative to COVID-19 on the RT-PCR test on that day.
It is learned that the husband who is a policeman went to Phuentshogling to repair the RBP vehicle on April 7 and returned on April 12 through the Indian highway but tested negative earlier. The daughter studies at Samdrup Jongkhar Middle Secondary School in class VII. 23 students and six teachers are identified as secondary contacts as the daughter has not gone to school since April 29.
Although the primary contacts are in quarantine facilities and secondary contacts in home quarantine, given the high number of school-going students identified amongst the close contact, the district task force is not comfortable opening the lockdown immediately. The lockdown is expected to open in a phase-wise manner.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
