The Nagaland government is taking all precautionary measures to deal with the threat of coronavirus.

Chief secretary Temjen Toy held a video conference with all the deputy commissioners and commissioners of Nagaland in his office on Friday to ensure that the state is prepared to tackle the spread of coronavirus.

He emphasised the importance of precautionary measures through preventive actions and the preparedness of the state in the event of detection of COVID-19.

Toy directed all the districts to form district task forces to be headed by the deputy commissioner.

He said the deputy commissioners will work in close coordination with the chief medical officers and all other stakeholders, including school education department and the District Disaster Management Authority.

Toy asked the directorate of health and family welfare to open an official Twitter handle to provide official updates on the epidemic and avoid rumours.

He said necessary action will be taken against those who spread rumours and fake news.

The chief secretary directed the department concerned to ensure personal protective equipment like N-95 masks and thermal scanner are made available to all the units.

He, however, affirmed that there will be no ban on foreign tourists since the department concerned will be closely monitoring them.

Speaking at the conference, the principal secretary of the school education department, Menukhol John, asked all the deputy commissioners to ensure that the advisory on coronavirus issued by the government be communicated to all the schools in their respective districts.

The principal director, health and family welfare department, Vizolie Suokhrie, said Kohima and Dimapur have already identified quarantine locations and put in place 50 beds to be used in the event of detection of anyone with the virus.

Saying that every district is prepared to tackle the threat, Suokhrie said more places will be identified as quarantine locations in the other districts. He also asked the villagers to report to the authorities concerned in the event of flu-like symptoms.

Dimapur deputy commissioner Anoop Khinchi called for providing more thermal scanners at Dimapur airport and said all arriving passengers should be scanned.

At present, only passengers with travel history from 12 majorly-affected countries are being scanned. Announcements will also be made at Dimapur railway station directing passengers with travel history from the 12 countries to go through the process of thermal scanning, Khinchi said.

The health and family welfare department gave a presentation on the various precautionary and preparative aspects of the virus at the meeting.

On Thursday, Khinchi held a meeting with medical officials, district task force, airport authority and police at his conference hall to review the preventive measures that are being taken in the district and preparedness for possible entry of coronavirus in the district.

Medical department officials briefed the meeting about various steps taken in the district with regard to COVID-19.

On the availability of N-95 masks for frontline workers, Dimapur chief medical officer Pangjung Sangtam said the virus is large in size with cell diameter of 400-500 micro, and any three-layered mask available in the market can prevent the virus.

The airport officials also highlighted the measures that are being followed at the airport.

Khinchi urged the people not to panic nor believe in false and fabricated information and to follow good personal hygiene.