Medical equipment were airliftedto different districts in Arunachal Pradesh on Thursday from the Naharlagun helipad near Itanagar to strengthen health services in the wake of the coronavirus outbreak.An MI-172 helicopter flew with medical kits to Tezu, the headquarters of Lohit district, and Khonsa in Tirap district despite inclement weather, Naharlagun helipad base manager Santosh Tewari said.However, the helicopter on the way to Pasighat for reaching supplies to East Siang, Upper Siang and Lower Siang districts could not take off as the weather conditions worsened, he said.It would fly when the weather clears, Tewari added.State planning secretary Himanshu Gupta, state surveillance officer (IDSP) L Jampa and helipad manager N C Chakhap facilitated loading the kits in the helicopters.This is the first air shipment of medical equipment to different parts of the state.The medical consignment, comprising personal protection equipment (PPE), sample collection kits, sanitisers, masks, gloves and disinfectors, for Arunachal Pradesh weighing around 5.5 tonnes reached Lilabari airport in Assams North Lakhimpur district on Wednesday evening from Hindon Air Force base in Uttar Pradesh.The state reported its first COVID-19 case earlier in the day with a 31-year-old man, who attended a congregation in Delhi's Nizamuddin West, testing positive in Tezu.
