Manipur sees largest spike on single day with 16 testing positive for COVID-19 taking tally to 23 active cases
Fifteen including infant from CCpur, 1 from Imphal East test positive
Source: The Sangai Express
Imphal, May 20 2020:
Just 24 hours after a mother and her daughter tested positive for COVID-19 taking the total number of infected persons to seven, sixteen more persons have tested positive for the virus today.
The sixteen persons include a 23 day old infant and her mother.
This brings the number of active COVID-19 cases to 23 in Manipur.
The first two infected persons have been cured and discharged from hospital.
Following the largest spike on a single day, an emergency Cabinet meeting was convened late in the evening today.
Of the sixteen persons, fifteen are from Churachandpur district while the other one is from Khabeisoi Mamang Leikai in Imphal East.
The child along with the mother and another family member came to JNIMS yesterday as they exhibited symptoms including loose motion.
After the COVID-19 test they were found positive, said a source from the Health Department.
The 13 others, including the one from Khabeisoi who tested positive are all asymptomatic, said the source.
In a statement issued to the press today evening, Additional Director and spokesperson of Health Department, Dr Sasheekumar Mangang said that the 16 persons were found positive for the virus out of 405 samples tested at JNIMS (200) and RIMS (205) .
Out of the sixteen, 14 had recently returned from Chennai while the other two had returned from Delhi and Churachandpur.
While 11 persons have been admitted to the COVID-19 care facility at JNIMS, the latter five, who are all women have been admitted to the COVID care centre at Churachandpur and control measures like containment and contact tracing have been taken up, said the spokesperson.
More positive cases are likely to increase in the coming days, a senior doctor said while talking to The Sangai Express.
The mother and daughter who tested positive for the virus yesterday are from Khongjal village in Kamjong district and they had gone to Delhi for the treatment of the mother.
They had returned by bus from Delhi and reached Imphal on May 16 .
Manipur had its first positive case on March 24 when a 23 year old girl from Thangmeiband tested positive after her return from England where she is studying.
The second case came on April 2, when a man from Lilong tested positive for the virus after attending the Tablighi Jamat at Nizamuddin in New Delhi.
Thereafter a 31 year old man from Heikhru Makhong tested positive after his return from Mumbai in May.
Notably the man's mother passed away at Mumbai where she had contracted COVID-19 .
The family had gone to Mumbai for the treatment of the man's father.
A nurse from Kamjong district also tested positive after her return from Kolkata.
She is among the large number of nurses who returned from Kolkata by bus.
On May 16, a 22 year old girl from Churachandpur tested positive after her return from Chennai by train which was arranged by the State Government.
A 75 year old woman and her 48 year old son who returned from Mumbai by a hired bus also tested positive for the virus on May 16 .
They had gone to Mumbai for the treatment of the mother and they returned to Manipur on May 13.Churachandpur now tops the table as the district with the most number of active COVID-19 cases with 15 .
According to a source from JNIMS, the three persons who were earlier admitted to the hospital after getting infected are now in a stable condition and same is the case with the four others who have been admitted earlier to RIMS.
At the moment, there are 7 beds at the Intermediate Ward of JNIMS for treating COVID-19 patients, 28 beds at RIMS and 10 more beds at Churachandpur district hospital.
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