The three-day blackout period in Samtse Throm has been extended into a lockdown till 14th July. Samtse Throm and Samtse Gewog were placed under a 72-hour blackout period after a woman tested positive for COVID-19 on Monday.
Samtse District COVID-19 Task Force decided to extend the lockdown following assessment of contact tracing and surveillance.
As per the notification issued by the district task force, the commuters of other gewogs travelling through Samtse town shall travel without stopping in the town. Likewise, schools, offices, and institutions will continue to remain closed until further notice. Movement or travel outside the throm and gewog will not be allowed for now.
According to the task force, the woman who tested positive on Monday is a Bhutanese working at one of the quarantine facilities. She had breached quarantine protocols and moved out of the facility. 46 primary contacts of the woman were traced and all of them tested negative to COVID-19, so far.
Meanwhile, to rule out the possible presence of the virus in the community, a two-day mass testing kick-started in the town from today. More than 3000 samples were collected as of 6 PM. All individuals above the age of five from every household have to get tested.
Passang Dorji, Samtse
