Nagaland sends highest number of samples to date for COVID-19 tests
Dimapur | April 14
As many as 37 swab samples were collected and sent for tests on April 13 making it the highest number of suspected samples to be sent from Nagaland in one day since testing started in March. 36 of the samples were of persons, who came into contact with the first COVID-19 positive case from Nagaland, the patient, who was admitted to the GMCH, Guwahati on April 12.
The other sample was not related to the positive case, informed the State Nodal Officer for the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), Dr Nyanthung Kikon.
Dr Kikon said late on Monday evening thatcontact tracing was on and more samples will likely be collected as the operation progresses.
He informed that the patient, a Dimapur-based businessman in his 30s, tested positive in the second test but described his condition as stable as in the afternoon today. According to Dr Kikon, the patient’s father, who was also quarantined, was tested for COVID-19 and the result returned negative.
“The patient, once he recovers will have to pass two tests within 24 hours to be discharged and the father has to take atleast one more test to be cleared,” he said. Meanwhile, State Health & Family Welfare Minister S. PangnyuPhom told The Morung Express that people, who were suspected to have been exposed to the patient, were reporting voluntarily to the Department.
As to who referred the patient to Guwahati, he said, “There was a little communication gap between Zion (Hospital & Research Centre) authority and the District Hospital (or the COVID-19 Hospital, Dimapur). Queried if the patient was referred to Guwahati because the COVID-19 Hospital was still not complete, he replied that as per the report, the family requested the District Hospital authority that the case be referred as they “have already” made arrangements with a hospital in Guwahati. He added that the patient was said to have fallen ill around April 6.
Further, in the state government’s daily update, Home Commissioner, Abhijit Sinha informed,“The collection of samples of people in connection with the positive case of the person from Dimapur is going on and till 5: 00 pm today, a total of 22 samples from Kohima and 14 samples from Dimapur have been collected.”
Sinha reiterated the statement of the Special Committee, COVID-19, Dimapur, issued earlier in the morning on Monday. He said that patient reached Dimapur by Air India Flight No. 709 from Kolkata on March 24. “Contact tracing has been completed for all his co-passengers who were on the same flight from Kolkata. All the members of the joint family of the patient have been already shifted to the Government quarantine Centres.”
The family’s residential neighbourhood— Marwari Patti, including Murgi Patti and GS Road were sealed off, he said, adding, “The wholesale market at GS Road Dimapur and retail shops at Marwaripatti and Ghorapatty will remain closed until further orders.”
Zion Hospital & Research Centre, where the patient was admitted before leaving for Guwahati has been sealed, he added. While not officially disclosed, two doctors of the District-cum-COVID-19 Hospital, Dimapur were also placed in a government quarantine facility. The doctors were on the night shift of April 11 when the patient was brought to the hospital before leaving for Guwahati.
