Nurse tests positive in CCpur, State's tally climbs to 124 cases
Source: The Sangai Express

CCpur, June 04 2020: The State's first case of frontline workers exposed to COVID-19 was confirmed in Churachandpur late last night as test result of a 40-year-old female nurse who was doing her time at the health workers quarantine facility after working continuously for 7 days in the isolation ward of District Hospital returned positive.

Significantly the nurse has no travel history but it cannot be said as yet that there is community transmission in the State said, Additional Director (Health) and COVID-19 Common Control Room spokesman Dr Khoirom Sasheekumar Mangang.

The nurse contracted the disease after she came into contact with COVID-19 patients, he said.

Passengers being transported for Quarantine at Moreh

According to a statement issued by Dr Khoirom Sasheekumar Mangang, the number of COVID-19 positive cases rose by three today taking the total tally to 124 .

Three more individuals who returned from Mumbai, Delhi and Pune tested positive at JNIMS today and they are aged 30, 22 and 28 respectively.

The first one is a male resident of Kangpokpi district, the second one is a male resident of Imphal East district and the third one is a female resident of Churachandpur district.

The total number of active cases as of Thursday is 86.Late last night thirteen people (briefly reported in the previous edition), including the said nurse tested positive for the virus.

The other 12 included six males and six females.

The four males belong to Bishnupur, Chandel, Churachandpur and Kangpokpi districts.

Four of the females including a three year old baby belong to Kangpokpi district, one to Tamenglong and the sixth one to Tengnoupal district.

The residents of Bishnupur and Kangpokpi districts who have been tested positive for COVID-19 returned from Mumbai while the residents of Chandel and Tamenglong came back from Delhi.

The male resident of Churachandpur returned from Chennai.

All of them have been taken into the COVID care facility of JNIMS.

Meanwhile, a resident of Churachandpur who has been undergoing treatment for COVID-19 at RIMS tested negative today and the patient has been duly discharged.

At Churachandpur, the CMO Dr VC Pau Tonsing said the nurse underwent COVID-19 test on the fifth day of her quarantine at the health workers facility set up inside Grace Bible College.

He also sought to allay public apprehension that she could have exposed the virus to her family if she had returned home daily from work, saying the district health authorities have been strictly observing the standard protocol in dealing the pandemic.

The isolation ward in Churachandpur district hospital is currently utilized to keep suspected cases and thus some of the people who have tested positive from the district and have later been shifted to Imphal are from this ward.

Two officials from Imphal meanwhile conducted an epidemiology investigation today at the District Hospital to ascertain the facts behind one of its nursing staffs testing positive for COVID-19 .

Prof Brogen Singh Akoijam HoD Community Medicine RIMS and Dr Y Premchandra Singh, Dy Director of the Directorate of Health Services, Imphal are required to submit their findings within two days, according to a memo issued today by the Director of Health Services, Dr K Rajo Singh.

As Churachandpur saw three new cases including the nurse yesterday, the District Magistrate today issued separate orders declaring the Quarantine Centres from where the positive cases were discovered as containment zones.

The containment order was issued for Grace Bible College, New Lamka and Sielmat Christian Higher Secondary School and the third case came from JNV Bishnupur which is located outside the district.

With one new case adding to the three cases yesterday, Churachandpur has 25 COVID-19 cases.

However, about a third - 12 people from the district were discharged from JNIMS COVID-19 facilities yesterday as their samples have returned negative.

The total cases of recovery thus stand at 16 while nine are active cases.

Previously, four people including a 36 day old baby had been discharged for strict home quarantine as their test results have also returned negative.

Today's new case, according to the Common COVID-19 control room, was a 28-year-old lady who returned from Pune on May 25 .

She tested positive at the Young Learner's School Quarantine Centre where she is doing her 14 days quarantine along with 120 others from Pune.

Samples from her and all other inmates were collected on May 30 .

The three positive people, two from last night and one from today, are now kept at the isolation ward of District Hospital Churachandpur.

They are reportedly doing good.

All previous positive cases were immediately shifted to Imphal but retaining the new cases in the district since last night has marked a new phase in tackling the pandemic as it highlights that facilities in Imphal are highly stretched and will also likely put to test the preparedness of the State at the district level.

On the other hand, our Moreh correspondent reports that three people (two males and one female) who tested positive for COVID-19 yesterday were taken to Imphal today in a special ambulance of Moreh hospital.

They were staying at three quarantine centres opened at Moreh.

Two of them returned from Pune and they have been staying in a quarantine centre since May 24 .

The other returned from Saharanpur, UP and was quarantined since May 22 .