23-yr-old becomes 1st COVID-19 case in Northeast

A 23-year-old woman tested positive for the coronavirus in Manipur, the first confirmed case in the Northeast, a top state health department official said on Monday.

The woman, a resident of Thangmeiband Lourung Purel Leikai area in Imphal West district, had recently returned from the United Kingdom, a statement issued by Health Services Director K Rajo Singh said.

She had reached Delhi from London on March 18 and taken another flight to Kolkata, where she stayed for a few days with fever and a sore throat. From there she took a flight to Imphal via Agartala on March 21, official sources said.

Her travel itinerary showed she travelled from Kolkata to Imphal with her brother on a flight with 108 other passengers.

"She had visited the Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences, complaining of nasopharyngeal problems. Test reports of her swab and blood samples confirmed she is infected with coronavirus," hospital director Th Bhimo Singh said.

Rajo Singh asked people who came in contact with the woman to inform him at 8402880191, 2411668, 8003453818 phone numbers and immediately go in self-isolation till further orders.

Police commandos cordoned off the residence of the woman and mobile units were seen instructing people to remain indoors.

Manipur has been placed under lockdown from Monday till March 31 in view of the coronavirus outbreak.

Meanwhile, JNIMS shut its Out Patients Department, barring its flu clinic, with immediate effect in view of the coronavirus outbreak, an order issued by medical superintendent T Rajen Singh said.