Manipur govt sets up 2 dedicated COVID-19 quarantine centres for transgenders

The Manipur government has set up two dedicated COVID-19 quarantine centres for the people of the transgender community in the state. "The centres are located at the Government Blind School, Takyelpat in Imphal West for those coming from green and orange zone and at Maria Montessori Higher Secondary School, Koirengei, Imphal East for those coming from the Red zone," said Mala Lisham, Programme Officer, Social Welfare Department.

Imphal's East quarantine centre has the capacity to accommodate 25 persons while Imphal West centre 20."We came across certain proposals from certain sectors and from some activists highlighting the problems faced by transgender people while their stay in community quarantine centres being run in different districts and assembly constituencies," she said.

"Today we have admitted two trans-women with us here at Imphal West quarantine centre," she added. Further, the Health Department has provided masks, sanitisers, gloves, PPEs, goggles, sodium hypochlorite solution, etc for use in the transgender quarantine Centre at Takyelpat.

There are 66,330 active cases of COVID-19 in the country at present. As many as 3,583 people have lost their lives due to the coronavirus in the country.