OUR CORRESPONDENT
ITANAGAR: Arunachal Pradesh has reported its first two cases of the new COVID-19 variant, a senior health official confirmed on Wednesday.
State Surveillance Officer Dr Lobsang Jampa, under the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), said that two women tested positive through RT-PCR tests conducted at the Virus Research and Diagnostic Laboratory (VRDL) at Tomo Riba Institute of Health and Medical Sciences (TRIHMS) on Tuesday.
The first case is a 34-year-old pregnant woman, currently in her 21st week of pregnancy. She initially tested positive through a Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) at Rama Krishna Mission Hospital (RKMH) on Monday after complaining of fever and a mild cough.
“We conducted the RT-PCR test on Tuesday to confirm the infection, and it came back positive,” Dr Jampa said, adding the woman had arrived in Itanagar from Bengaluru by flight on May 13.
The second case is the woman’s 53-year-old mother, who also tested positive via RT-PCR but remains asymptomatic.
Currently, the pregnant woman is still admitted in the hospital, while her mother has been kept in isolation.
Dr Jampa urged the public not to panic, stating that the new strain is not as severe as previous variants. “The health department is closely monitoring the situation and taking all necessary precautions to prevent further spread of the virus. We are also tracing all possible contacts the two women may have had,” he said.
He added that a detailed public health advisory will be issued soon after consultation with the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi.
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