IMPHAL, May 17: Four persons, including three women, tested positive for COVID-19 in Manipur, taking the total number of active cases in the state to five, officials said.
Of the fresh patients, two have returned from Mumbai, one from Chennai and one from Kolkata, they said.
Two Mumbai returnees, a 75-year-old woman and a 48- year-old man, had reached Imphal on May 14 in a hired vehicle and were placed under quarantine at the RD Wing in Lamphel, which had been set up to quarantine patients returning from other states following treatment, they said.
One of the two underwent treatment at the Tata Memorial Hospital there.
A 22-year-old woman, who had recently returned from Chennai in a special train, also tested positive for the dreaded virus and was staying at a quarantine centre in Churachandpur district, another official said.
"The woman was admitted to the isolation ward of the district hospital after she developed fever," he said.
She was among the 1,140 stranded Manipuris who had reached Jiribam railway station in the state on May 13.
A nursing professional, who was under quarantine, tested positive and was shifted to an isolation ward of Jawaharlal Nehru Institute of Medical Sciences here.
The woman, who works in a Kolkata hospital, had returned to Manipur in a bus on May 7, the official said.
The COVID-19 Consultative Committee under the chairmanship of Chief Minister N Biren Singh held a meeting on Saturday to review the situation after the new cases were reported in the state.
The committee members took stock of the availability of quarantine centres and the testing capacity of the state as more people stranded outside Manipur are expected to come in the next few days, according to a statement issued by the home department.
The influx of people will continue, and three special trains coming from Baroda, Bengaluru and Hyderabad will reach the state soon, the official said.
The committee also suggested the testing of all the people who came from outside and asked the authorities to keep them in quarantine centres till the test results are received.
It recommended the state government to extend the ongoing lockdown till May 31, the statement said.
"Exemptions may be given to agriculture activities, MGNREGA, MSME sector with social distancing norms in rural areas," it said.
Manipur was declared a zero positive COVID-19 state by the chief minister on April 19, after two coronavirus patients recovered.
Following the detection of positive cases at two quarantine centres, the Imphal West district administration has taken up containment measures.
Deputy Commissioner Imphal West N Praveen said the containment measures have been taken up "in view of the impending threat of COVID-19 pandemic in the areas".
Meanwhile, the government has cancelled all curfew passes which have been issued previously by the district administrations.
Chief Secretary J Suresh Babu, in an office memorandum, stated that "instances of misuse of these passes by pass holders" have come into the notice of the government.
The Manipur Police on Satuday detained 1,030 people for violating the curfew and the lockdown orders and seized 696 vehicles in the state, a senior officer said.
All the detained people were produced before courts and a total fine of Rs 1.11 lakh was imposed on them, a statement, issued by Additional Director General of Police (Law and Order) L Kailun, said. - PTI
