Manipur to intensify Covid-19 test for air passengers

Our Correspondent
Imphal, April 4 (EMN): In the wake of rising Covid-19 infections in some states, all passengers coming by air from nine states of the country would be tested for Covid-19 with RT-PCR on their arrival at Bir Tikendrajit International airport in Manipur.

A notification issued by the state Health department stated that passengers coming from the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Punjab, Rajasthan, Haryana and Tamil Nadu should undergo the test. It added that passengers would be allowed to leave the airport after collection of samples.

“Those passengers are instructed for home/ self isolation until the test reports are communicated by the officials,” said K Rajo Singh, director of state Health Services in a notification dated April 3, 2021.

The step was initiated after the state started to resume the Covid-19 test for incoming air passengers from five states namely Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, MP and Gujarat on their arrival at the airport from February 24 onwards. Since then around 2302 air passengers were tested for Covid-19 at the airport and 37 passengers were found to be positive for the disease.

It may be recalled that the northeastern state had discontinued Covid-19 testing of incoming air passengers at the airport with effect from December 18 last year after the percentage of air passengers testing positive for Covid-19 was reduced.

At the same time, the state authority had even decided to close down six Covid Care Centres in five districts with the declining in Covid cases in the recent past.

The state reported its first positive Covid-19 case and death case on March 24 and July 27 last year respectively. The last death case due to Covid-19 in the state was reported on February 7 this year.

Meanwhile, the cumulative number of positive cases as on Saturday reached 29,423 while the cumulative number of recovered cases was 28,988. The number of active cases was 61, officials added. The recovery rate was 98.52 percent.

As of Sunday, a total of 6,34,338 persons were screened at various entry points of the state, while 5,80,265 individuals were tested for Covid-19 in Manipur.

Fire broke out in Imphal

A fire broke out at two shoe stores located next to temporary market sheds at Khwairamband Keithel, the main market in Manipur’s state capital on Sunday afternoon.

As per sources, the incident occurred at around 1:58 pm. The fire was brought under control in time before causing vast devastation by the firefighters of the state’s Fire Services department.

Though there was no human casualty during the fire incident, shoes worth around lakh of rupees were damaged during the incident, said sources.

The cause of fire was stated to be due to a short electric circuit at the shoe store.