DIMAPUR, June 11 - The Diphupar Village Council here has directed the communities under its jurisdiction to set up quarantine centres to house people who cannot be properly quarantined at home. This move follows after the council discovered that the 14-day home quarantine after a similar quarantine period in a government facility is not feasible in some cases, due to the presence of elderly persons, pregnant women and children on the one hand, and absence of separate rooms, toilets and bathrooms in most homes, on the other.
This is also being envisaged as a preventive measure to stop any possible community transmission of COVID-19 in Nagaland.
Following the directive, the Diphupar Lotha community, along with the Lotha Baptist Church, Diphupar, collected donations from the church and community members to start the centres. The Diphupar Lotha youth are building the quarantine centres in the form traditional huts on Lotha church land.
Chairman of the Diphupar Lotha community, Zuchumo Mozhui, shared this information with Dimapur Deputy Commissioner Anoop Khinchi during the latter�s visit to the huts on Thursday.
Diphupar Lotha community COVID-19 convener Zuben Patton said around 15 returnees from the Diphupar Lotha community are expected to be home-quarantined.
He said power supply has been made available in the huts, while floor carpeting, stand fans, folding beds, buckets, mugs and other essentials will also be provided. So far, five huts with separate toilets and bathroom facilities are almost complete, and within the next few days all the huts will be ready, Patton said.
With the generous contributions from the community members, more huts will be constructed on the church land as per need, he added.
Diphupar Lotha Colony gaon burha Thechamo Ngully appealed to all to cooperate with the district administration and all frontline workers in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Meanwhile, Dimapur DC Khinchi lauded the collective effort of the Lotha Baptist Church and the Lotha community of Diphupar to fight the viral disease.
He said he was impressed by the look of the quarantine huts, which have a traditional touch, proper electrification, stand fans and full floor carpeting. He said a bench made of bamboo and placed outside each hut and the airy and spacious ambience with separate toilet and bathroom, which have been set in place for every quarantined individual, would be the perfect and comfortable home for inmates. Khinchi said that the huts could later be utilised for receiving tourists.
