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Aizawl, April 8 (IANS): After Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura, another Northeastern state, Mizoram have also set up a Covid-19 sample testing laboratory at the Zoram Medical College and Hospital in Aizawl, officials said here on Wednesday.
Mizoram Health and Family Welfare Department officials said that the Health Minister R. Lalthangliana announced that the newly installed Covid-19 testing laboratory has started functioning from Tuesday. And, the first ones to be tested were the 14-member team of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers looking after the lone Covid-19 patient in the state.
The Health Minister said that the lone Covid-19 patient was being given the best care possible and was showing good progress. He also said that all other tests taken from Mizoram have turned out to be negative.
Lalthangliana also said that from now onwards, swab samples of suspected coronavirus patient need not be sent to Silchar Medical College in neighbouring southern Assam for testing anymore.
"The new test Lab in Mizoram had already procured 1,000 testing kits from Dibrugarh Medical College (in Assam). With new positive cases being identified recently in neighbouring states of Assam and Tripura, the Mizoram government has also stepped up its vigil along the state's borders," the Minister said.
According to the experts and health officials, the northeast region has 10 Covid-19 testing centres -- six in Assam, one in Meghalaya, one in Tripura and two in Manipur, including one of the Indian Council of Medical Research's(ICMR's) Regional Medical Research Centre at Lahowal in Dibrugarh district.
Health officials in Aizawl said that the 50-year-old Mizo man, who had tested positive last month after he returned from the Netherlands, was still in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zoram Medical College and Hospital in Aizawl.
"His fever was moderately controlled and his condition was stable. The gentleman's wife and two children swab samples had earlier tested negative and are staying at home," the official said refusing to disclose their identity of the patient.
The Mizoram Police in a statement said that following the recently held Muslim congregation of Tablighi Jaamat Markaz at Nizamuddin in New Delhi, the police have been on high alert in the state and immediately investigating whether there were any attendees from the state.
"After careful tracing work, there seems to be no evidence of any Muslims attending the conference from Mizoram till now. At the same time, alongwith the Village Level Task Forces, utmost effort is being made to screen and ensure that no person infected with Covid-19 enters Mizoram," the statement said.
According to the official release, the Mizoram police are also helping the Assam and Tripura Police to trace out any person who might have attended the Muslim Conference from these two states.
Gangtok, April 8 (PTI): Sikkim Governor Ganga Prasad on Wednesday urged Chief Minister Prem Singh Tamang to expedite the process for setting up a laboratory in the state for testing samples of persons suspected to be infected with the novel coronavirus.
He said a testing laboratory will enable early detection and treatment of Covid-19 patients.
During the second review meeting on coronavirus outbreak with Tamang and senior officials at the Raj Bhawan, Prasad said the state government must accord top priority to establishing a testing laboratory in the state in collaboration with the ICMR.
He asked the state government to strengthen its mechanism and preparedness to keep coronavirus at bay in Sikkim.
Preventive measures have become all the more important since there has been a rapid increase in Covid-19 cases across the country in April, the governor said.
He said the state government must look after vulnerable sections of the society in view of "the likelihood of lockdown being extended beyond April 14".
The chief minister assured the governor that the state government was doing its best to tackle the coronavirus outbreak and is distributing relief materials among vulnerable sections of the society.
No coronavirus case has been detected in Sikkim so far, Tamang told the governor.
Agreeing with the governor that there was a likelihood that the lockdown might be extended beyond April 14, Tamang said the state government has decided that all educational institutions in Sikkim shall continue to remain closed till the situation normalises.
He said that buffer stock of all essential commodities, including medical consumables, has been maintained.
Strict vigil has been maintained at the border check- points to restrict the movement of people and vehicles even if neighbouring states lift the lockdown, Tamang said.
Partial relaxation of lockdown norms, if any, after the stipulated time will be in line with the guidelines issued by Centre, he added.