Sikkim no longer Covid free state... Man in Siliguri tests positive: ...13 more detected in N Dinajpur: ...31 fresh cases in Malda:

SNS | SILIGURI | 23 MAY 2020: The Himalayan state of Sikkim reported its first Covid-19 case today. Confirming this, the DG-cum-Secretary,Health, Dr PT Bhutia, told a press corderence in Gangtok that the patient is a 25-year-old male from South Sikkim and that he had travelled back to the state from New Delhi on 17 May.

"He travelled in a private bus to Siliguri, from where he reached his place in an SNT (Sikkim Nationalised Transport) bus through the Melli

check post," Dr Bhutia said. It is learnt that the man was in a quarantine centre in the South District.

Sikkim was the only Covid 19-free state in the country until now, with the state govemment there taking up precautionary measures much in advance and much before the lockdown started.

31 fresh cases in Malda: On the other hand, Malda district reported 31 fresh cases of Covid-19 among migrant workers in the past 24 hours, while North Dinajpur too saw a spike with 13 new cases.

The reports released by the Malda Medical College and Hospital last night took the total number of affected persons in Malda to 87."Most of these migrants are from the Milki gram panchayat in English Bazaar block and were in home quarantine," sources said."All of them have now been shifted to COVID hospitals in Malda set up at five places now- two in Old Malda block and one each in Harishchandrapur I, Kaliachak I and Manikchak," they added.

It is learnt that 73 Covid-19 patients are undergoing treatment in these hospitals in Malda, while 13 others have been discharged after being cured.

Meanwhile, one migrant worker, Suresh Saha, 35, of Bajbahar village under the Gazole police station who had returned from Pune in Maharashtra a few days ago, died in the quarantine centre at Kathi Kandar Primary School there last night. The brother of the deceased, Rajkumar

Saha, has filed a police report, seeking the exact reason for the death.

13 more detected in N Dinajpur: In North Dinajpur, people were panic-stricken after news that 34 fresh Covid cases had been detected in the district in the past 24 hours. However, as the piece of news spread, the district administration refuted the same and said that only 13 cases were detected today which took the number of affected persons to 36.

The 13 cases have been reported from Sibpur, Mahadevpur, Malgaon, and Anantapur in Kaliyaganj, Paschim Birnagar in Raiganj municipality and some in areas under the Hemtabad, Karandighi and Dalkhola police stations, sources said "Most of them are migrant workers and they had recently returned to their villages from Delhi," a health department source said.

"As the COVID hospital at Karnajora in Raiganj may not be able to handle the rising number of cases, the administration may open another COVID hospital at Ukilpara in Raiganj," the source added.

"Thirteen positive patients have been detected in the last 24hours in our district. I earlier received a report from Malda testing center that we had 34 new patients in 24 hours, but there was a mistake in the report on their part. The family members of the 13 are being quarantined either in their homes or quarantine centres," the Chief Medical Officer of Health of North Dinajpur, Dr Rabindranath Pradhan, said.

Man in Siliguri tests positive: In Siliguri, one more Covid-19 case was found taking the number of such cases to five in the past six days. Four of the cases are from the Siliguri Municipal Corporation (SMC) area.

A 29-year-old resident of Adarasha Nagar in Ward-4 tested positive for the disease today Sources said he used to work as a daily wage earner in Delhi and that he returned to Siliguri via Bihar on 16 May.He had, however, been staying at his relative's residence in Ward 1. Both the wards have a large number of slum areas. Today's case gave rise to questions as to how a person had been staying at someone's place without being quarantined after his return.

Sources said that the health department has started tracing his contacts and that seven persons from both the wards have been quarantined so far. Department officials said such a trend was not a "positive indication."

"It appears that he came secretly here and hid himself. It also shows that a large number of people are not still aware and such irresponsible attitude is risking the lives of other people." said a health department official. Siliguri Sub-Dhisional Officer Sumant Sahay said the administration was monitoring the' situation.

Meanwhile, a resident of Matigara, who was admitted in the Covid hospital in Siliguri after he was tested Positive in Assam, was discharged  today. "He has been released after two consecutive tests showed him negative for the disease. He has been advised to remain in home quarantine for two weeks,"health department sources said.