To instill confidence among health workers and patients at a time when Sikkim is witnessing a surge in Covid cases, Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang today wore a PPE suit and visited Covid care centres to take stock of the situation.
The Chief Minister began the day by meeting patients at the Covid care centre set up at Paljor Stadium in Gangtok. The centre currently has 13 patients. The Chief Minister handed over medicines and food items during his visit.
He later visited a care centre at Saramsa Garden where 64 monks infected by Covid are staying. The monks are from Ganjong Monastery on the outskirts of Gangtok, which has been declared a containment zone after infections were reported there.
Around 10 am, the Chief Minister reached his home constituency in Poklok-Kamrang in Namchi, where the district hospital in South Sikkim is located. The South Sikkim district recorded 136 new Covid cases on Friday.
At the Namchi Girls' Senior Secondary School in South Sikkim that has been converted into a Covid care centre, he briefly interacted with the medical team, patients and other staff and assured them that the government will assist them in every possible way.
The Himalayan state is in the throes of a spike in Covid cases and recorded 420 cases yesterday -- its highest single-day case count so far.
Besides Ganjong Monastery, Covid cases have been reported from Rumtek Monastery, Nor Monastery, Lingdum Monastery and the Nyingma Institute in Martam. As many as 311 monks have tested positive across five monasteries over the past one week. East Sikkim, where the monasteries are located, is the worst-hit region in the state.
