Manipur girl who left quarantine center after 41 days tests COVID-19 positive

Ukhrul: In yet another alarming situation for possibility of community transmission in Manipur, a 21-year-old girl — a Mumbai returnee who had stayed at quarantine centre for at least 41 days — tested positive for COVID-19 on the day she left for home quarantine in Ukhrul district.

As per sources, the girl stayed for 14 days at an institutional quarantine centre and later shifted to community quarantine centre (CQC) at DIET teachers’ quarters at Dungrei in Hungpung village.

According to Dungrei Public Organisation (DPO) president Xavier CS, the inmates staying at the village community quarantine centre are only those who had tested negative for COVID-19. However, when the inmates were supposed to leave for home quarantine after their completion of 14 days, DPO executives who look after the centre learnt that one girl from among the 31 inmates staying at the CQC had yet to receive the test result.

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“We were told that her sample was collected during her first 14 days at IQC but did not receive the result,” said Xavier.

As informed by Xavier, the second sample of the Mumbai returnee was recollected on July 2, which was on the 38th day of her stay at the quarantine centre.

“Since she has been staying at the quarantine centre for 41 days and all alone at the CQC and also not showing any symptoms of COVID-19, we consulted with the concerned medical officials and decided to discharge her from the centre on July 5,” added Xavier.

Unfortunately, the girl tested positive for COVID-19 on the same evening of her discharge from the village community quarantine centre.

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Soon after the report, the DPO executives along with medical officials placed contact tracing and identified at least 15 families of the girl’s locality as primary contacts.

The girl was evacuated and shifted to TK Wood COVID-19 Care Center in the district for further observation. Her swab test will be conducted after five days, as per reports.

On Tuesday, district deputy commissioner of Ukhrul Joseph Pauline Kamson issued an order to declare containment zone of whole Dungrei, which consists of 10 localities of Hungpung village, until further notice.

However, as per the notification, KVS Oil pump which is located at Dungrei is exempted from the containment zone.

Any person or institute found violating any of these measures shall be deemed to have committed an offence punishable under Section 188 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) and Section 51 of the Disaster Management Act, 2005, said the official statement.

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