COVID19-infected Imphal girl to remain in hospital for observation

Imphal: A 23-year-old girl from Imphal West in Manipur, who recently tested positive for coronavirus, will continue to remain at an isolation ward in Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences (JNIMS) Hospital despite her health condition improving.

There were reports on social media that the girl, who is currently undergoing treatment at the hospital for COVID-19, will be discharged on March 27. However, officials from the health department rubbished the reports and informed that the girl will continue to remain in hospital for further observation.

The girl, who returned from London, will have to undergo two more sample tests. Inly if both the samples test negative, the doctors will consider her discharge accordingly, sources said.

Sources also clarified about an earlier report of her sample being sent to the National Institute of Virology (NIV) Pune. “We conducted the first sample test in the state. Even the tests on the remaining samples will be conducted here, and not in NIV, Pune, the sources added.

As per reports, soon after the girl and her brother, who had also returned from the United States, landed at Imphal Airport on March 21, they were on home quarantine without having close contacts with the rest of the family members.

The samples tested for the family members are all negative, said reports.

Meanwhile, another suspected case was reportedly kept in an isolation ward at JNIMS on Thursday. The test report was yet to be received, till the time of filing this report.

Altogether, as many as 1,84,028 passengers have been screened from the entry points and 486 people are on home quarantine amid the coronavirus pandemic.