The Manipur government has imposed complete lockdown in Jiribam district, after the sudden spike in the number of COVID-19 positive cases in the district. To ensure the lockdown is enforced effectively, the Home department has also imposed curfew in the entire district until further notice.
Manipur Chief Secretary J Suresh Babu stated in an order late Saturday that only essential service will be exempted from the purview of the lockdown and curfew.
The state has also closed the Jiribam gate and will allow only inter-state goods carrying trucks through the gate.
Jiribam district registered 28 COVID-19 positive cases on Friday, including 26 police personnel and two civilians making it the highest single day spike in the district.
The spike in the positive cases came two days after an Assistant Sub-Inspector (ASI) of Jiribam district police was tested positive for the virus. The ASI had recently traveled to a hospital in Silchar along with his wife and newborn.
While the positive patients were shifted to COVID care centre, the wife and newborn of the ASI were tested negative.
The Manipur Health department said that contact tracing is in full swing in Jiribam. It is learnt that as many as 180 persons who came into the positive patients have been traced.
However, the department ruled out community transmission in the district and appealed to the people not to panic.
Jiribam district is situated at the western front of Manipur bordering Assam’s Cachar district, 226 km from Imphal.
The total number of positive cases in Manipur has reached 1,366 with 41 more cases reported on Sunday. With this, there are 677 active cases and 689 recovered cases.
MUST READ - Government blamed for COVID-19 surge in Jiribam
