The Bhutanese Leading the way.
According to the Health Minister Dasho Dechen Wangmo, the lockdown is one of the tools for reducing transmission in the community, and this is backed by credible research. Lyonpo said lockdown has a significant influence on transmission, allowing the community to manage transmission.
Lyonpo said that in contrast to previous lockdowns, the government has implemented a smart lockdown, with minimum restrictions, in which you are permitted to have mobility passes and go shopping for essentials.
“At the very least, you can get out of the home and it is less of a strain on the public,” Lyonpo said.
Lyonpo further said the current lockdown will be lifted after the completion of the children’s examinations, following which the Prime Minister’s Office announced the relaxation in consultation with the taskforce.
“People are expecting that everything will return back to normal once the exams are over, but no. Bhutan, under the leadership of His Majesty, has taken a cautious approach to dealing with the pandemic. And we’d want to proceed with caution. We don’t want to be regretful for our decisions. More significantly, as a small country, we cannot afford premature deaths as a result of COVID-19. So we will continue to adopt a very cautious approach that is based on science and balancing livelihood and the disease,” Lyonpo said.
Lyonpo stressed that the most important benefit we have as a nation today is vaccinations. “I want to thank everyone for coming forward to get the vaccine. We have a very high vaccination coverage among our youngsters and the elderly,” Lyonpo said.
“We do not have a 100 percent lockdown as people are moving out and given that Omicron is highly transmissible, you will see community transmission,” she added.
