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Covid-19 enters two untouched hilly districts, Uttarakhand total crosses 100 mark
The new cases in Uttarakhand have largely been driven by migrant workers returning to the home state.
So far untouched by Covid-19, Uttarakhand’s hilly districts of Bageshwar and Chamoli on Tuesday reported their first coronavirus cases that also included minors. This coincided with the state crossing the 100-mark with a total of nine new cases taking the Covid-19 infected tally to 105 till the filing of this copy.
The new infections recorded have largely been driven by the return of migrant workers, 31 of whom have tested positive in the past one week.
The afternoon bulletin released by the state health department had reported eight new cases including two detected last night in Chamoli and Pauri Garhwal. However, by Tuesday evening, chief medical officer of Udham Singh Nagar district said a 46-year-old man with travel history to Mumbai had also tested positive.
Since Tuesday morning, seven cases were detected in the state, with two cases each from Nainital and Bageshwar districts and three cases from Udham Singh Nagar district.
Two male patients aged 35-years and 20-years tested positive in Bageshwar district, three individuals including a 19-year-old female, a 13-year-old male and a 46-year-old male tested positive in US Nagar and two persons including a 22-year-old male and a 14-year-old male tested positive in Nainital district.
Officials said Nainital district’s two new cases had a travel history to Rampur in Uttar Pradesh and New Delhi respectively.
Dr. Shailaja Bhatt, chief medical officer of US Nagar district said that the two teenagers who tested positive in the district were close contacts of a positive case who returned from Gurugram on May 16. She added that the other case, found positive, had returned from Mumbai and was also suffering from diabetes.
The bulletin further mentioned that a patient who tested positive on Tuesday at AIIMS Rishikesh lab was under treatment in Uttarkashi district, but it would still be counted among cases in Dehradun district since his sample was taken there.
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After the first case from Chamoli was reported on Tuesday, district magistrate Swati Bhadouriya directed that medical examination of every person who came in contact with the Covid-19 positive patient be done.
“One person who reached Uttarkashi from Maharashtra was found to be positive. Four people from Chamoli also came with that person in the same bus. Rigorous contact tracing should be done for that Covid-19 positive patient and the four persons should be medically examined and –quarantined,” the DM said.
Uttarakhand has so far tested 14,691 samples while results of 1,456 samples are awaited. The disease doubling rate in the state (based on the past seven day’s data) has now reduced to 12 days.
