Addressing the nation through the Prime Minister’s Office Facebook page, Prime Minister Dr Lotay Tshering said the nationwide lockdown can be expected to be eased once all the contact tracing, testing and isolation processes are completed.
“With the commendable solidarity and unity shown by everyone in such times, I think we will not be badly affected by the disease. We are now trying to complete the isolation processes as soon as possible. Once we are done with it, we will lift the lockdown and we will provide the opportunity for everything to be as usual and normal.”
However, the prime minister did not inform the exact dates to lift and ease the first nationwide lockdown. Following a COVID-19 positive case in Gelegphu coming in close contact with the people in several districts, the government announced the nationwide lockdown on August 11.
The Prime Minister also cautioned that until a COVID-19 vaccine is made available, the situation in the country will remain the same and the nation will witness series of lockdowns.
“As and when there is community transmission, we will impose lockdown. We will then work on contact tracing and separate infected people and quarantine them. After this, depending upon the situation, we will lift or ease the lockdown. However, we might again impose lockdown if there is community transmission again. That’s why I feel we will experience a series of lockdowns,” Lyonchhen said.
The Prime Minister also informed that the number of lockdown in the future will solely depend upon how the general public cooporate with the government’s directives.
Besides, Lyonchhen also shared that all 40 active cases in the country, as of today, are recovering with no major complications. With no new positive cases in the last 24 hours, the country’s total COVID-19 cases remain at 155.
Passang Dorji
