The first confirmed case with no travel history was reported on Thursday in the state as a frontline nurse from Churachandpur district was tested COVID-19 positive along with 16 others.
The nurse has been working at the district hospital and her sample was sent for testing on Wednesday night at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), the Manipur Health department stated.
The nurse is said to be asymptomatic though she has been evacuated at the Isolation ward of the district hospital.
Chief medical officer (CMO) of the district, H Tonsing, said that the nurse had never entered inside the Isolation ward of the hospital. “We are yet to find out how she contracted the virus. She has been working outside the Isolation ward and had never entered the ward,” he added.
The nurse tested positive for the virus during the mandatory tests for those who are working in the hospital.
The CMO informed that to ascertain how the nurse became infected, a team of Health officials from Imphal visited the district hospital. Contact tracing and containment measures have been taken up by the Health department.
The total number of positive cases in the state now stands at 124 with 86 active cases. All the total positive cases in the state, except for the nurse, are returnees who have come from outside the state.
Meanwhile, 13 new COVID-19 positive cases including the Nurse and a three –year-old girl were confirmed on Wednesday night, while another three have been tested positive on Thursday.
Among the latest cases, seven are men and six are women. 38 patients have already recovered and been discharged from the hospitals.
Five cases, including a three year old girl and one male are from Kangpokpi district. They are returnees from Mumbai. Three cases, all males are from Tengnoupal. They are returned from Pune, said additional director health K Sasheekumar Mangang.
Another two are from Churachandpur i.e. the nurse and a man who is a returnee from Chennai. The remaining three are from Bishnupur, Chandel and Tamenglong districts. They are all males and they belong to the groups returning from Delhi, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai respectively.
Samples of the 13 cases were tested at Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratories (VRDL) at JNIMS.
All of them are in a stable condition, they have been shifted at COVID-19 care facility at JNIMS for observation, it said.
Meanwhile, as per the latest update issued by COVID-19 Common Control Room, three more individuals (two males and one female) were found COVID-19 positive at VRDL, JNIMS. They are a 30-year-old male, who is a Mumbai returnee from Kangpokpi district; a 22-year-old male who is Delhi returnee from Imphal East; and a 28-year-old female who is a Pune returnee from Churachandpur district, it said.
All three of them returned by train, and they are being shifted to Covid Care Facility at JNIMS, it said. All necessary precautionary measures like containment and contact tracings are underway.
All three of them returned by train, and they are being shifted to Covid Care Facility at JNIMS, it said. All necessary precautionary measures like containment and contact tracings are underway.
ALSO READ:
Tamenglong: COVID-19 positive cases climb to five
Social distancing difficult for inmates in quarantine centres
