After 11-day lull, Himachal sees one positive case

PATIENT, A RESIDENT OF JOGINDERNAGAR, SHIFTED TO HOSPITAL; AUTHORITIES BEGIN CONTACT-TRACING

DHARAMSHALA: It’s the first case of Covid-19 in Himachal after a gap of 11 days.

The patient, hailing from Drubal panchayat of Jogindernagar sub-division, worked in a private company in New Delhi. He came to Himachal on April 29 after the state government opened the state borders to facilitate the return of people stranded outside the state.

The patient is being shifted to the hospital and authorities have started his contact tracing. Medical superintendent of Shri Lal Bahadur Shastri Government Medical College, Nerchowk (Mandi), said that of 39 samples tested on Monday, 37 came negative, one needed retesting and one was positive.

“This is the first case of Covid-19 in the Mandi district,” he said. Meanwhile, the district administration has declared the three-kilometre area surrounding the patient’s village a containment zone and all the relaxations in the curfew stand withdrawn.

Of the 41 cases in Himachal, maximum 16 were reported in Una district, nine in Solan, six in Chamba, five in Kangra, two each in Sirmaur and Hamirpur and one in Mandi.

One person from Kangra had died, 34 people have been cured and four shifted out of the state for treatment. As many as 7,432 people have been tested so far and 8,376 are in quarantine.