18 fresh cases of coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh; total cases stand at 111

Shimla, May 20 () Eighteen people have tested positive for coronavirus in Himachal Pradesh, taking the virus tally in the state to 111, officials said on Wednesday.

While 13 persons, including four women, tested positive in Kangra, four in Mandi and one in Kullu district tested positive for COVID-19, they said.

The details of the four cases in Mandi were not immediately available.

Meanwhile, two persons from Chamba and one from Hamirpur recovered from the disease on Wednesday, they said.

Of the other 14 cases, 12 had returned from Mumbai whereas one each came back from Delhi and Chennai, the officials said.

The 12 were among the 697 people who had returned to the hill state from Mumbai in a special train on May 18, they said.

Of the 697 passengers who arrived at Una on Monday, 242 were from Kangra, 169 from Hamirpur, 103 from Mandi, 43 from Bilaspur, 40 from Shimla, 38 from Una, 26 from Chamba, 10 each from Kullu and Kinnaur and eight each were from Solan and Sirmaur, Una Deputy Commissioner Sandeep Kumar said.

A woman (56), her son (31) and his wife (25) are among those who tested positive in Kangra for COVID-19, Kangra Superintendent of Police Vimukt Ranjan said.

Similarly, a man (41), his wife (34) and their child (11) also tested positive at the Rajendra Prasad Government Medical College (PRGMC) in Tanda, he said.

Besides a man (41) from Jaisinghpur tehsil also tested positive. He returned to Kangra from Chennai after alighting at the Pathankot Railway Station in a special train on May 19. He was quarantined at Jwalamukhi.

Similarly, a driver (55) from Upper Khera village also tested positive. He was quarantined at Dhaliara after returning from Delhi.

Now, active cases in Kangra stand at 26, whereas one man died on March 23. Eight people have been cured in Kangra, out of the total 35 positive cases, in the district. In Kullu, a 23-year-old man, who had returned from Mumbai, tested positive for COVID-19, Kullu Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh said.

This is the first positive case in Kullu district.

The SP said 10 people from Kullu district were kept in an isolation ward at Ayurveda Hospital. Samples of all of them were taken. While one tested positive, the others were negative.

The total number of infected people in the state stands at 111, while 54 of them have been cured. Four people have died due to COVID-19.

The active cases in the state now stand at 53, including 26 from Kangra, 10 from Hamirpur, five each from Bilaspur and Chamba, four from Mandi, two each from Sirmaur, Una and one from Kullu.