Six including 3 Army men test corona positive in Arunachal Pradesh

ITANAGAR: Six fresh cases of COVID-19 positive cases including three Army personnel were reported from Arunachal Pradesh taking the total count of novel coronavirus cases in the State to 67, a senior Health official informed here on Friday.

Three Army personnel have been tested positive under Singchung sub-division in West Kameng district on Thursday night while two cases were reported from worst affected Changlang district and one from Longding district, he said.

All are returnees from other affected States and were in quarantine facilities. They are asymptomatic, State Surveillance Officer Dr L Jampa informed.

While the Army personnel have returned from Bihar, the persons from Changlang have returned from Noida and the one from Longding had returned from Gujarat, Dr Jampa said.

The Army men were travelling in convoy, without intermingling with civilians. They have their own protocol and all of them would be managed by the Army. Contact tracing is going on by the Army and the district surveillance team to find if any civilians came in contact after the army personnel reached their camp, Dr T Taipodia, dealing with COVID-19 management informed.

West Kameng district COVID-19 nodal officer Dr Kesang Wangda has issued an urgent advisory to the civilians living in and around Army cantonment areas of Tenga and Dahung prohibiting unnecessary venturing at the restricted areas.

As per Army sources, one of the affected personnel is a doctor who came from one of the 'Red Zone' areas and was in home quarantine.

As on date, the State has 63 active cases while four were discharged after being cured.

So far five positive cases were reported from the capital complex – comprising Itanagar and Naharlagun, 42 from Changlang, three each from East Siang and West Kameng, two each from Namsai and Lohit and one each from Lower Dibang Valley, Tawang, Upper Siang, Tirap, Longding and West Siang districts. Four patients have been discharged after being cured.

The first case in Arunachal Pradesh was reported on April 2, when a 31-year-old man tested positive for the disease following his return from a religious congregation in Delhi. He was discharged from hospital on April 16.

After almost six weeks, the state registered its second case on May 24, with the return of a 30-year-old student, also from Delhi.

According to a health bulletin, a total of 13479 swab samples were tested in the state till Thursday while results of 1627 samples are awaited.

A total of 306420 persons screened at entry gates so far in the State.

Also watch: Morning Bulletin | 12th June 2020