8 fresh COVID-19 cases in Nagaland, count rises to 355

Contact tracing exercise of all those who had come in close contact with the five health workers and Army personnel has been completed and their samples are being collected for COVID-19 test, the official said. A police frontline worker at a quarantine centre in Mon district has also tested positive for COVID-19 through TrueNat testing.

Eight more people have tested positive for COVID-19 in Nagaland, taking the state's tally to 355 on Thursday, Health minister S Pangnyu Phom said. Of the 355 cases, 195 are active while 160 people have recovered, the minister said.

Nineteen Army personnel stationed at the Jakhama Cantonment have so far contracted the virus in the state. "Eight new cases of COVID-19 positive have been reported out of 315 samples tested," the minister tweeted.

The fresh cases are from quarantine centres in Kohima and Dimapur districts. Dimapur district has reported the highest number of cases at 159, followed by Pheren (85), Kohima (76), Mon (23), Tuensang (8), Zunheboto (3), and Phek (1).

Principal Director of Health and Family Welfare Dr Vizolie Z Suokhrie told reporters that five of the 355 confirmed cases in the state are COVID-19 frontline workers, including a receptionist of the Naga Hospital Authority Kohima (NHAK), and four bus drivers who ferried returnees from Dimapur and Kohima to their respective home districts. Contact tracing exercise of all those who had come in close contact with the five health workers and Army personnel has been completed and their samples are being collected for COVID-19 test, the official said.

A police frontline worker at a quarantine centre in Mon district has also tested positive for COVID-19 through TrueNat testing. However, his swab sample has been sent for lab testing and the result is awaited, Dr Suokhrie said. When asked whether the frontline workers were not using PPEs as they had contracted the virus while on duty, the official said, the department is making a detailed inquiry.

On the quick recovery rate of COVID-19 positive patients in the state which currently stands at 45 per cent, he said, 90 per cent of the infected persons are in the age group of 20-40 years and all of them are asymptomatic. Their recovery rate is faster as they do not have comorbidities, Dr Suokhrie said.

On the steps for containing local and community transmission of COVID-19, Dr Suokhrie said, "We are working on minute details and starting micro planning, strengthening our surveillance mechanism so that no one is left out during contact tracing." State Nodal Officer for Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme Dr Nyan Kikon said, the state is in the local transmission phase till now..

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