E-Paper
Sikkim reports first Covid-19 case after man who returned from Delhi tests positive
The 25-year-old man who had returned to Sikkim on May 19 was sent to a facility quarantine centre on his return along with 11 others. On May 21, he developed fever and was shifted to STNM Hospital in Gangtok on Friday.
Sikkim on Saturday reported its first Covid-19 positive case after a man who recently returned from Delhi tested positive.
The 25-year-old man, who arrived in Sikkim on May 19, was sent to a quarantine centre along with 11 others. On May 21, he developed fever and was shifted to STNM Hospital in Gangtok on Friday.
His swab sample was collected and sent to the North Bengal Medical College and Hospital in Siliguri, West Bengal. Till Saturday night, 1707 people were tested in the Himalayan state.
“The 25-year-old man tested Covid-19 positive,” said state health secretary Pempa Bhutia.
Bhutia said the man from a South Sikkim district was staying at Haiderpur in Delhi as a paying guest along with six others and was attending coaching classes for UPSC examinations.
“All those who returned with him are in quarantine. They will be tested too,” Bhutia said over phone from Gangtok. The driver of the bus which ferried these people from Siliguri to Sikkim will also be tested.
The development came a day after the state government announced that classes for students from Class 9 to university level would resume from June 15. With this Sikkim becomes the first state in the country to partially open educational institutions.
Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang had been reiterating that the real challenge would begin after Sikkimese people and students start returning from other states after relaxation of the lockdown.
Sikkim was one of the first states to seal inter-state and international borders and ban entry of both domestic and foreign tourists and migrant labourers.
Timely and drastic measures had helped Sikkim remain Covid-19 free till Saturday while adjoining Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts in West Bengal witnessed the death of two people. The number of Covid-19 cases in Siliguri and other parts of North Bengal is now on the rise.
