First COVID-19 Case in Northeast as Manipur Girl Tests Positive

First COVID-19 Case in Northeast as Manipur Girl Tests Positive

The 23-year-old woman had recently travelled to the UK.

Manipur has reported its first case of the novel coronavirus on 24 March, making it the first COVID-19 case in Northeast India.

The 23-year-old woman had recently travelled to the UK. She has been put under isolation at Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) hospital.

Her family members have been quarantined, NDTV reports.

Manipur was placed under a lockdown with immediate effect till March 31 in the wake of the novel coronavirus pandemic, state minister Thongam Biswajit Singh announced on Monday, 23 March.

Essential services, however, have been exempted from the purview of the lockdown. The decision was taken at a meeting of the state cabinet, the industries minister said.

The cabinet also decided to set up isolation wards at the Regional Institute of Medical Sciences (RIMS) and the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Singh said.

The government has decided to distribute rice, meant for April under the National Food Security Act (NFSA), free of cost to support the needy during the lockdown. Beneficiaries of the Chief Minister-gi Hakshelgi Tengbang health insurance scheme who do not possess the NFSA card will also be given free rice, he said.

Singh, the official spokesperson of the government, said the spread of the deadly COVID-19 could be prevented only if guidelines issued by the experts were followed. He urged the people not to hide any signs and symptoms of the new coronavirus.

The death toll due to the novel coronavirus pandemic rose to nine on Monday after West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh reported a casualty each, while the number of confirmed cases soared to 468, the Union Health Ministry said.

(With inputs from PTI)