Minor Kids Have Shown The Way, While Elders Failed in Coming For Covid Test In Arunachal

In the wake of the second wave of COVID-19 pandemic, the authorities of Nafra Subdivision in West Kameng district, Arunachal Pradesh organized a Covid testing camp at Ditchik village on July 3 to check the spread of virus. However, to their surprise around ten small children visited the Covid testing centre while most of the adults refrained from doing so.

“We were surprised to see the children as they came all by themselves and not accompanied by any guardians. We were really taken aback as most of them were around five years old,” said Lobsang Wangchu Bapu, Additional Deputy Commissioner (ADC) of Nafra Subdivision.

“The response of the adults was disheartening. We set up a camp in a school and out of 900 population only 44 turned up of which 10 were children,” he informed.

The authorities of Nafra Division received reports that most of the villagers at Ditchik were having symptoms of cold and fever and thus the administration fixed a date for the Covid testing day. “We observed that most of the villagers were having fever, cold symptoms. Since this is the second largest village in the Nafra Subdivision, we talked to Gaon Burah and Gram Panchayat Members (GPM) to fix a date to conduct the Covid testing. However, most people were reluctant to come for the tests, to avoid Covid care centres or to follow home isolation guidelines if tested positive,” he shared.

Stating that kids had set an example for adults, he said, “We conducted the test and all of them were negative. Seeing these kids gave us satisfaction. It is a positive message for the society to see and learn something from the kids. When adults were reluctant, these small kids understood the importance of the test and came forward.”

The authorities also phase problems during the vaccine drives. To motivate people to take vaccines, they have started the ‘No Vaccine No Ration’ slogan. 

“People have lots of misconceptions about Covid vaccines. There are some who think that Covid is just a normal flu which will be cured normally. We struggle a lot to convince people to get vaccinated,” he informed.

However, since the implementation of the slogan, the turn up of people above 45 for Covid vaccines has improved, informed ADC.