A facility quarantine where seven COVID-19 cases were detected between April 22 to 26 is suspected to be the source of the recent outbreak in Samdrup Jongkhar as both the first community COVID-19 positive cases have visited the premises of facility quarantine.
Three ex-pats were detected with the virus on April 22 from the facility. Following that, the front liners in the facility were tested. Four employees, including the manager, tested positive for COVID-19 on April 26.
According to the preliminary report of the COVID-19 outbreak in Samdrup Jongkhar town, the first positive case has visited a betel (pan) shop located below the hotel, used as a facility quarantine, on several occasions. Similarly, the second positive case, detected on May 6, was assigned night duty outside the facility quarantine during the detection of positive cases on April 22 and 26.
And the report says, going by the circumstantial evidence, RT-PCR report, date of onset of symptoms, and probable date of exposure that is counting back to the maximum incubation period of 14 days, the leakage from the facility quarantine are the possible source. However, officials are also not ruling out other possibilities of transmission like illegal transactions along the borders and frequent travel to the point of entry by the RBP personnel.
Meanwhile, the assumption of a 39-year-old man, the husband of the first community case, with a travel history to Phuntshogling being the source of transmission will also be studied as positive cases have been detected from all the places he visited in Phuntshogling on April 18 and May 3.
However, he tested positive only after seven days of exposure to the first community case in the town.
Kinley Wangchuk, Samdrup Jongkhar
