IMPHAL / AGARTALA, MARCH 24 (TIWN): In height of Corona Virus pandemic, Manipur reported first COVID-19 positive case in North East, a girl student travelled from UK to Delhi, followed by Delhi to Kolkata, then Kolkata to Imphal via Agartala on Air Asia flight I5-501. Manipur & Tripura State Governments continue to trace passengers on Air Asia Flight No. I5-501. The girl is from Imphal West district of Manipur has been tested positive for COVID-19. This particular patient took this flight Air Asia Kolkata 12:45 pm to Imphal flight, layover at Agartala, 1:45pm, Imphal 15:20 pm March 21, 2020. Infected passenger took a flight from London to Delhi, then Delhi to Kolkata, after a gait in Kolkata in a Hotel, infected person traveled to Imphal by Air Asia which transited through Agartala. With this, thus, Northeast India has registered first COVID-19. Her sample was tested at a designated lab in Imphal's JNIMS.

However, Tripura Chief Secretary Manoj Kumar while interacting media said, “All the passengers in Tripura were identified who were in the flight. Till now whoever have been tested, no positive case is revealed yet, but we have prescribed home isolation for them. But, all the persons’ who were in the flight from Tripura are under check. Till now, no positive report came yet”.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6Y_09d1K2E&feature=youtu.be&fbclid=IwAR00DcawVWgIHftK6k-tQ3Rf9mZG21nMdIuSW2EKic6PuaUS0DZapwRsjTQ  Tripura Chief Secretary's statement. TIWN YouTube Lnik 

Manipur Deputy Chief Minister of Manipur, Y Joykumar Singh said, “One case has been depicted as positive. So, now we are taking the possible precautions that are necessary. The authorities are reportedly taking all essential measures and in Tripura lockdown has started form 2 PM to be continued till 31st March, 2020. The virus outbreak has killed eight people so far across India.  Total number of active COVID19 cases so far in the country is 446, as on March 24. 37 cured/discharged/migrated cases and 9 deaths, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare informed. 

The Superintendent of Police (SP), Imphal West ditrict has been asked to look into the case and ensure that all her family members are quarantined so that the Health department can contain the spread of the virus.

According to the Test Report of the 23-year-old, she developed the first sign of the illness two days ago and on Tuesday morning she was declared as 2019-nCoV ‘Positive’. Her test was carried out at The Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS), Imphal.

The 23-year-old is a student of Brisal University UK. She came from UK and arrived at Delhi and Kolkata on March 19. Her brother had also joined her from Atlanta at the Kolkata Airport. They stayed at a hotel in Kolkata and then arrived in Imphal on March 21. Her sister has been kept in isolation at JNIMS and her brother is under self-quarantine in their house.

The family has also reportedly attended a marriage ceremony, which signals at the possibility of a lot many getting infected. However, the test of the 23-year-old is serological test and it has to be confirmed by Nucleic acid test, which is done outside the state. Recently, a similar case took place in Assam where a 4-year-old child was reported as being infected with the virus, however, later the test report showed negative results.

More Details : According to a statement issued by K. Rajo Singh, the Director of Manipur''s Health and Family Welfare Department, the woman is now undergoing treatment at the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) in Imphal.  "The woman was found infected during examination at the JNIMS. She is a resident of Thangmeiband Lourung Purely Leikai in Imphal west district. She had fallen sick on Monday," another official of Health and Family Welfare Department said on condition of anonymity.  The Manipur government has a list of 99 people who arrived in the state in recent times from coronavirus-affected countries and are now in house quarantine.  Two doctors of JNIMS, L. Shivadutta Singh, Research Scientist and Rajkumar Manojkumar Singh, Associate Professor and Principal Investigator, both of Department of Microbiology, issued the positive nCoV confirmation certificate at 6.40 a.m. on Tuesday. 

Soon after the medical test report, Rangitabali Waikhom, District Magistrate, issued an order on Tuesday prohibiting movement of people in the entire Imphal west district.  The Manipur government has asked the people to stay indoors. The health official said that tracing of the person''s movements and contacts of the nCoV carrying woman are being identified.  According to health and police officials in Manipur, the woman, who returned from London and arrived in Delhi and then in Kolkata on March 19, did not reveal her travel history earlier before she was detected positive with the novel coronavirus. The officials said that on the same day (March 19) the younger brother of the woman had arrived in Kolkata from Atlanta. Both stayed in a hotel in Kolkata and arrived in Manipur capital Imphal on March 21 by a private airliner via Agartala airport (Tripura).  A media report also said that the woman and her brother returned to Imphal via Guwahati airport. The police have cordoned off the house of the woman, whose father is a professor in Manipur.  Officials of Airport Authority of India in Agartala and the private airliner are collecting details of the passengers who travelled in the same flight with the nCoV infected woman. All the seven states of northeast have declared lockdown fearing the spread of novel coronavirus from migrants, who are returning back to home from affected countries and other states of India.