Zero community transmission, a collective effort

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Once alarming individuals contracting the COVID-19 disease and the red zones giving out hair-raising COVID-19 cases, today, Bhutan only has one active COVID-19 case. The success of zero community transmission is a major role rendered by timely vaccination and also the collective efforts of the Bhutanese public following precautionary measures taken against the COVID-19 disease. In Bhutan, from January 03, 2020 to September 17, 2021, there have been 2,596 confirmed cases of COVID-19 with 3 deaths, reported to World Health Organization. As of September 11, 2021, a total of 1,046,117 vaccine doses have been administered. With 478,897 individuals fully vaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine, and about 567,220 administered at least one dose of COVID-19 vaccine, a 62.8 per cent of the entire population vaccinated, Bhutan is leading the global vaccination chart for COVID-19 vaccination. Bhutan for COVID-19 vaccination, it is followed by China, India and the United States of America. Bhutan is still in the grip of the deadly COVID-19 disease and the disease with one of the highest death toll in the recent history – there is no alternative to following the precautionary measure set by the Ministry of Health and the measures must be taken in full responsibility as Bhutan is yet to vaccinate children of age between 12-17 years. Owing to ongoing vaccination of children between the ages 12-17 years, the Bhutanese public should not let down the guard, the effort has been re-echoed by the frontline workers at the border and at quarantine centres. There are also other sections of the population that needs to be protected and it is the responsibility of every other Bhutanese people to follow precautionary measures of fighting COVID-19 disease. Our success with vaccination and zero community transmission, we owe it to the wisdom of His Majesty The King for encouraging the government to inoculate the Bhutanese public at the earliest possible. To sustain the vaccination drive, His Majesty The King also offered to get the vaccination once all the Bhutanese have been administered with the first and the booster dose. His Majesty The King will be the last person in the country to get inoculated. The request of Ministry of Health is appealing the general public to sustain the momentum of the present scenario of COVID-19 cases in the country. Following precautionary measures is the only tool to sustain our zero community transmission in the country. To protect our children, we must follow the safety measures prescribed by the Ministry of Health, it is our only silver bullet.