First coronavirus case reported in Northeast, 23-year-old tests positive in Manipur

A 23-year old girl from Manipur with travel history to UK has been tested positive for the deadly novel coronavirus at the JNIMS hospital on Monday. This is the first positive case of COVID-19 from the northeast region.

According to reports, the girl was pursuing her Masters at the University of Bristol in the United Kingdom.

The Manipur Health Department has confirmed the development. The infected girl has now been put under isolation.

Manipur is among the states and union territories that are under a complete lockdown to prevent the spread of COVID-19. There is a complete lockdown in as many as 560 districts of the country affecting several hundred million people.

It may be mentioned that, the 23-year old girl had boarded a flight from London to Delhi on March 18. Following this she reached Kolkata by air and boarded another flight via Agartala and reached Imphal on March 19.

The girl was picked up from her home by a special team of medics and police on Monday.

As per information, 13 family members of the COVID-19 infected girl have also been sent for quarantine.

The number of coronavirus positive patients in India rose to 471 on Monday, as per the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

Meanwhile, the Manipur government has imposed curfew in Imphal West district prohibiting movement of persons outside their residences to contain any further spread of coronavirus in the state.

The state government has also started contact tracing of all those individuals who came in contact with the 23-yr old COVID-19 positive girl . The health directorate has opened helpline numbers to reach out to any such individuals.