Addressing a virtual meeting, Arunachal Pradesh home minister Bamang Felix said that special emphasis should be given to intensive testing in the Itanagar Capital Region (ICR).

The virtual meet was attended by cabinet ministers Mama Natung and Taba Tedir, Itanagar MLA Techi Kaso, chief secretary Naresh Kumar and IMC mayor Tame Phassang.

“Lockdown is not the solution, however, the need of the hour was to stop the chain of virus transmission,” Felix said.

“We have to move together in a mission mode and ensure that intensive COVID-19 tests are conducted in the entire ICR,” he added.

He also urged everyone to cooperate and make the vaccination and testing drive successful.

“We have already procured sufficient vaccines for the state and more would be procured in the coming days,” he further informed.

“Once intensive tests are done and mass vaccination is carried out, we can gradually move towards unlocking the ICR,” he added.

Speaking in the meeting, environment and forest minister Mama Natung said that even though the positivity rate in ICR has gone down, however, the health department’s suggestion to extend the lockdown is justified.

“We should acknowledge the efforts of the frontline workers and try to look into the positive aspects of it,” Natung said.