Phuentshogling saw an overwhelming number of community cases of COVID-19 in recent memory. The town went into a complete lockdown for more than 40 days in April. In order to ensure that the residents don’t have to endure the same anymore the Southern COVID-19 Taskforce has been sensitising everyone in the town.
On 19th September 2021, nearly 200 drivers attended the sensitisation programme. The task force briefed them on the basic information of COVID-19 and its preventive measures.
One of the participants, Tshering Dorji, said they didn’t get such a platform to express their thoughts, and completely understand the situation. “I got to learn many new things about the virus and the situation the country is in today.”
“Today’s session was very helpful, especially for those who don’t have time to watch television and who can’t read newspapers. Now that we know a lot about the situation, we will also sensitise our passengers,” said Ugyen Wangchuk, another participant.
It began with the sensitisation programme for managers of containment centres in Phuentshogling sometime last month. And with today’s event, the task force has sensitised almost the entire population in the town, including frontline workers, business owners, and residents.
It has been nearly 40 days since the last community case in the town – businesses are operating again. Sporting events, including swimming, are allowed with strict Standard Operating Procedure (SOP). As each day passes by, people are counting the comforting days.
However, with a long porous border, the threat of the virus cannot simply be disregarded.
The call for strict compliance to safety protocols is still loud and clear, even to this day.
Meanwhile, since the first community case of the Coronavirus on 17th April last year, Phuentshogling recorded 633 cases. However, there is not a single person infected by the virus today.
Sonam Penjor
Edited by Chayku
