In four days of the mass screening in Thimphu, the Royal Centre for Disease Control (RCDC) collected close to 9,000 samples. The centre has tested around 80 per cent of the samples so far.
As per the health ministry’s Facebook page, of the total samples collected, 64 people tested positive for the virus as of this morning. The cases were detected from Debsi, Olakha, Nyinzergang, Chang Jalu, Dechencholing, Changangkha, Motithnag, and Kabisa. The areas were all declared red zones.
However, the centre is yet to establish the exact figure of positive cases detected from the mass screening. The test result for the remaining samples is yet to be out.
With the increasing number of community transmission in the region, the health ministry initiated mass testing on Thursday to stop the spread of the virus. More than 40 teams from the RCDC, with DeSuups, collected samples of each active and mobile member of randomly selected households from across 45 zones.
Similarly, with increasing cases of coronavirus in Paro, the health ministry initiated mass testing in the district as well. Including a mobile team, a team of four are testing and collecting swab samples of those in the high-risk areas and their peripheries.
As of yesterday, the teams screened more than 4,000 people from the community for the RT-PCR test. This includes primary contacts of the cases detected earlier.
The first case in Paro was detected on 22nd December. Ever since the dzongkhag recorded 42 positive cases as of this morning.
Phub Gyem/ Namgay Wangchuk
