25 new cases detected in last 24 hours to take tally to 157
With Pherzawl joining list, COVID-19 spreads to all districts
Source: The Sangai Express

Imphal, June 06 2020: Following detection of three positive cases in Pherzawl district, not a single district of Manipur is now free from COVID-19 .

During the last 24 hours, the State recorded 25 COVID-19 positive cases.

According to a press release issued by Additional Director (Health) and COVID-19 Common Control Room spokesman Dr Khoirom Sasheekumar Mangang, 11 samples were tested positive for COVID-19 at JNIMS last night followed by 14 others this afternoon taking the State's total tally to 157 .

For the first time in Pherzawl district, three females who returned from Mumbai recently have been tested positive and their samples were among the samples tested at JNIMS last night.

25 new cases detected in last 24 hours to take tally to 157

Now all the 16 districts of the State have COVID-19 positive cases.

The remaining eight samples which tested positive at JNIMS last night belong to residents of Churachandpur district.

Six of them are females and the other two are males.

They too came back from Mumbai.

All the 14 individuals who tested positive for COVID-19 at JNIMS this afternoon are males and they belong to Kangpokpi district.

They came back from Delhi by train.

Although their health conditions are said to be stable, all precautionary measures like containment and contact tracing have been put in place, said the press release.

So far, 54 COVID-19 patients have recovered and they include two who tested negative at RIMS today which means there are 103 active cases as of Saturday.

Dr Sasheekumar said that the nurse working at Churachandpur district hospital who was tested positive for COVID-19 did not wear PPE as her work did not require close contact with COVID-19 patients although she served tea and snacks to patients.

He said that he is yet to receive a report of the investigation carried out on how the nurse contracted COVID-19 .

Meanwhile, the State psychological support team has opened a helpline number for frontline workers such as doctors, nurses, paramedics, truck/bus drivers, police, media, sanitation workers and volunteers.

They can contact mental health professionals on mobile number 9402751364.On the other hand, the increasing number of COVID-19 cases in Churachandpur has placed local authorities on their toes as they face an increasing nightmare of maintaining the ever-increasing number of returnees as every positive case stalls the discharge schedule of the entire inmates of the facilities, they undergo quarantine, reports our CCpur correspondent.

Adding to their nightmare is the ugly footage of some inmates that have sent physical distancing norms and quarantine protocol for a toss, landing up on social media.

Last night inmates of a particular quarantine facilities dancing on a muddy ground have landed up on social media drawing the ire of many including the local authorities.

Claiming that manning nearly a hundred quarantine facilities in the district is an uphill task unless the inmates themselves act and behave responsibly, AC to DC Churachandpur Khaikhopau Ngaihte today appealed to about 2000 inmates scattered across 98 Community Quantine Centres and 6 Institutional Quarantine Centres in the district to maintain physical distancing and other protocols put in place for them.

A repeat of the ugly incidents such as the one circulated last night will leave the authorities with no choice but to take action with the help of the local police, he said.

The best and the most desirable thing for the safety of one and all, however is, all inmates understand the dilemma the world is facing right now and take it as a personal responsibility and take preventive measures and act sensibly, he added.

With 8 new more cases in Churachandpur, the district tally including the one from JNV Bishnupur has now reached 34.The active cases however stands at 18-8 males and 10 females, as 16 have recovered.

About 270 test results from the samples collected in the district are declared yesterday and today.

All the new cases are from amongst Mumbai returnees.

A status report released by IDSP Churachandpur today put the number of total test results received till date at 1811 against the sample collection of 3151 .

A total of 1340 results are still awaited.

The District Magistrate Churachandpur later today withdrew the containment order it had previously issued for SSPP Residential School, Nghathal and Circuit House, Bijang revoking all containment measures in the two quarantine facilities.

The measure to withdraw the containment measure, though a positive development, sources however expressed apprehension that it was necessitated by the stress in quarantine facilities.