TURA, July 8: As many as 14 inmates from the Tura district Jail have tested positive for Covid during active surveillance conducted by the district Covid surveillance teams on Thursday pushing the total number of new infections to 76 on a single day.
“Following recent outbreak of Covid in Ri-Bhoi jail, we had gone in for mass testing of the prisoners and the jail staff with RT PCR and found 14 positive cases. Out of these 14 positive cases only four displayed symptoms. Necessary quarantine and isolation measures have been put in place in the jail itself,” informed West Garo Hills Deputy Commissioner Ram Singh.
Singh also revealed that, barring 2-3 prisoners who were having underline health issues, all prisoners and jail staff have already been provided with the first dose of Covid vaccination.
“With the recent outbreak in Ri-Bhoi, we did not leave anything to chance. We went in for mass vaccination for everyone, including those who could not provide any identification papers also,” clarified Ram Singh. Over 200 inmates in the Tura jail were able to receive the first dose of the Covid vaccine, according to the DC.
The total number of active cases remains at a high of 547, including 76 new detections on Thursday in the district.
Deputy commissioner Singh also said that although stringent measures are in place to halt infections, the new Delta variant has been continuing to infect people across different regions and the only way to end the pandemic is through vaccination of the general public.
He also said that the vaccination programmes currently underway in towns and villages are progressing well with a large number of people coming forward to take the jab.