Cachar district administration arranges COVID tests for journalists under ‘ATSP’

The reporters travel all around the district exposing themselves to the contagion that has caused havoc all over the world. Throughout the several phases of lockdowns and after that, the journalists remained on the field covering events for their respective newspapers, television channels or digital publications.

Considering the vulnerability, deputy commissioner of Cachar Keerthi Jalli has decided to arrange COVID tests for the journalists in the district under the ongoing Assam Targetted surveillance programme (ATSP). However, the administration has made it clear that it is not a “mandatory” test that the reporters need to undergo. “Only those who want to volunteer to undergo the tests can enrol their names by Sunday, June 21, at the DDIPR’s office,” informed the administration through a media statement.

The statement read, “During our fight with COVID19, media personals have played a significant role in being the eyes and ears for the administration. Since the beginning, almost every day, we met during the press briefings. The media personals shared their feedbacks and we kept working on it. They have been courageous enough to report from various nook and corners, even not bothering enough of the risk.”

The names to be registered tomorrow as the samples will be collected on Monday, June 22.

It is worth mentioning here that the Assam Government has started the targeted surveillance programme across the state with an aim to test 50,000 randomly collected samples from people working in places like truck parking, loading and unloading centres, warehouses, weighbridges. The health department of the State informed that they will collect samples from people working at hotels and the workforce used in quarantine centres.

The programme started on June 17, throughout the state and will continue till 30th of the month.