Sikkim, the only state in India to be coronavirus-free up until now, has reported its first COVID-19 case on Saturday.
The patient, who tested positive is a 25-year-old male from South Sikkim, said DG-cum-Secretary Health Dr PT Bhutia.
“He had travelled from New Delhi on May 17 in a private bus till Siliguri. He had then travelled by SNT bus through Melli Checkpost on May 19. He was kept under one of the designated facility quarantine centres in South District,” said Dr Bhutia in a press release.
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He informed that there were a total of 12 persons in the bus, which comprised three people from South District, and nine from West District.
“He developed fever and chills on May 21, and was immediately evacuated to COVID-19 STNM Hospital on the morning of May 22. His sample was immediately tested on TrueNat Machine at STNM Hospital. It was reported positive”, Dr Bhutia added.
“In order to further confirm, his sample was sent to North Bengal Medical College and Hospital, Siliguri, for RTPCR test. Today at 3:30 pm, the report confirmed that he has tested positive for COVID-19,” he said.
Dr Bhutia further informed that COVID-19 patient was initially symptomatic, but now even though he tested positive, he is stable and asymptomatic. He is currently admitted in the isolation ward.
The DG-cum-Secretary said that all his co-passengers, who travelled to Sikkim, are under facility quarantine. He informed that the bus driver has been contacted and will be tested immediately.
India witnessed the biggest ever spike of 6,654 positive cases in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,25,101, as per the Ministry of Health.
As many as 137 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 3,720 in the country.
(With ANI inputs)