Nagaland Covid-19 Update: Four deaths under investigation

Our Reporter
Dimapur, July 25 (EMN): Health authorities in Nagaland are said to be investigating the deaths of four suspected Covid-19 patients even as the RT-PCR results of the woman who died at a paid quarantine facility and the elderly man who passed away at Covid hospital, both in Dimapur, returned positive for Covid-19 on Saturday morning.

The results were confirmed by the BSL-3 lab in Kohima.

While some Health officials informed that the death of the elderly man, who was 78 years old, would make it the first official death due to Covid-19 in the state, Minister for Health And Family Welfare, S Pangnyu Phom in a tweet stated that even though four deaths have occurred, investigation is still on as all four were co-morbid cases.

“As on July 25, the state reported four deaths. However, investigation is on and subject to further verification to establish the link with Covid-19 as co-morbid conditions were present,” tweeted Phom.

Of the other two deaths, a 72-year-old man from Bokajan in Assam who died at Nikos Hospital on July 24 had tested positive via RT-PCR while a 50-year-old man who passed away at CHC Medziphema on July 21 had tested positive through RT-PCR after his TrueNat result returned negative, according to officials.

However, state Health officials reiterated that all the cases were subject to confirmation through investigation.

Nagaland cases reach 1289

Nagaland reported 50 new Covid-19 cases on Saturday, in yet another surge that took the state’s tally to 1289 so far.

According to a Health department update, 541 patients have recovered so far in the state. The number of active cases stands at 744.

The past two days, Nagaland had witnessed the highest single-day surges in terms of Covid-19 positive cases; on July 23, it had recorded 90 fresh cases followed by 65 on July 25. In three straight days, the state has seen a spike of 205 cases.

According to the department’s weekly update, the recovery rate of Nagaland is 43% as against India’s 63%.

“The last week has again recorded the highest single spike in a day (90) on July 23 with maximum cases from employees of a private sector company in quarantine,” it stated.

The department informed that it took 13 days, from May 25 to June 6, for Nagaland to reach 100 cases. “The current doubling rate is around 15 days,” it added.

Distribution of cases

According to the department’s data, 10 positive cases have chronic diseases like cancer, TB, and diabetes.

“Till date, 7,139 contacts have been traced through contact tracing. 2,212 contacts have been listed as high risk. Thirty-one contacts outside the quarantine centres have tested positive. They are all listed as contacts of a positive case. Twenty-nine percent of the cases are from the armed forces,” it informed.