DIMAPUR, March 5 - The Nagaland Health and Family Welfare Department today dismissed reports doing rounds on the social media claiming that a person infected with novel coronavirus has been admitted to the Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK), calling it absolutely false.
Principal Director of Health and Family Welfare Department Dr Vizolie Soukhrie said that no COVID-19 case has been reported in Nagaland so far. He added the State has neither encountered any suspected case nor sent any sample for test.
The department appealed to the people to refrain from posting false and fabricated information in relation to COVID-19 on the social media.
State Health and Family Welfare Minister S Pangnyu Phom took to Twitter, clarifying that �some rumours are being spread regarding admission of a COVID-19 patient in NHAK. Please stand verified that the news feed is absolutely false & baseless.�
He said the State Health Department is monitoring the situation closely and will inform the citizens on any development.
�This is to inform all concerned that the report about a COVID-19 patient admitted to the isolation ward of Naga Hospital Kohima is false and should be treated as fake news,� a message from the NHAK authority said.
The clarifications came after rumours spread on the social media that a woman was tested positive for the virus and was being kept in isolation at the NHAK.
During a press conference on February 18, Phom had said that all possible precautionary measures prescribed by the World Health Organisation have been put in place in Nagaland to deal with any COVID-19 case.
The State has set up 52-bed isolation wards in the State Government and military hospitals in all the districts, he said.
On threat posed by goods coming from affected countries, Phom said there is no evidence, as of now, to prove that the virus can spread through imported items.
