Four persons test positive for COVID-19 in Manipur
Imphal, May 16 () Four persons, including threewomen, tested positive for COVID-19 in Manipur, taking thetotal number of active cases in the state to five, officialssaid on Saturday.
Of the fresh cases, two have returned from Mumbai, onefrom Chennai and one from Kolkata, they said.
Two Mumbai returnees, a 75-year-old woman and a 48-year-old man, had reached Imphal on May 14 in a hired vehicleand were placed under quarantine at the RD Wing in Lamphel,which had been set up to quarantine patients returning fromother states following treatment, they said.
One of the two underwent treatment at the TataMemorial Hospital there.
A 22-year-old woman, who had recently returned fromChennai in a special train, also tested positive for thedreaded virus and was staying at a quarantine centre inChurachandpur district, another official said.
"The woman was admitted to the isolation ward of thedistrict hospital after she developed fever," he said.
She was among the 1,140 stranded Manipuris whohad reached Jiribam railway station in the state on May 13.
A nursing professional, who was under quarantine,tested positive and was shifted to an isolation ward ofJawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences here.
The woman, who works in a Kolkata hospital, hadreturned to Manipur in a bus on May 7, the official said.
The COVID-19 Consultative Committee under thechairmanship of Chief Minister N Biren Singh held a meeting onSaturday to review the situation after the new cases werereported in the state.
The committee members took stock of the availabilityof quarantine centres and the testing capacity of the state asmore people stranded outside Manipur are expected to come inthe next few days, according to a statement issued by the homedepartment.
The influx of people will continue, and three specialtrains coming from Baroda, Bengaluru and Hyderabad will reachthe state soon, the official said.
The committee also suggested the testing of all thepeople who came from outside and asked the authorities to keepthem in quarantine centres till the test results are received.
It recommended the state government to extend theongoing lockdown till May 31, the statement said.
"Exemptions may be given to agriculture activities,MGNREGA, MSME sector with social distancing norms in ruralareas," it said.
Manipur was declared a zero positive COVID-19 state bythe chief minister on April 19, after two coronavirus patientsrecovered.
Following the detection of positive cases at twoquarantine centres, the Imphal West district administrationhas taken up containment measures.
Deputy Commissioner Imphal West N Praveen said thecontainment measures have been taken up "in view of theimpending threat of COVID-19 pandemic in the areas".
Meanwhile, the government has cancelled all curfewpasses which have been issued previously by the districtadministrations.
Chief Secretary J Suresh Babu, in an officememorandum, stated that "instances of misuse of these passesby pass holders" have come into the notice of the government.
The Manipur Police on Satuday detained 1,030 peoplefor violating the curfew and the lockdown orders and seized696 vehicles in the state, a senior officer said.
All the detained people were produced before courtsand a total fine of Rs 1.11 lakh was imposed on them, astatement, issued by Additional Director General of Police(Law and Order) L Kailun, said. CORR ACD RBTBDC BDC