Manipur govt. orders Covid test for air passengers

Our Correspondent
Imphal, Feb. 23 (EMN): Following spike in number of Covid-19 active cases in the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh, MP and Gujarat, Manipur government has made mandatory for all passengers from those states to undergo Covid test on their arrival at Bir Tikendrajit International airport in Imphal with effect from February 24 until further notification.

Director of Health Services, K Rajo Singh issued a notification in this regard on February 23. Earlier, the director, in a notice issued on February 22, informed to conduct Covid-19 test for those arriving from Maharashtra and Kerala only.

Meanwhile the office of the chief medical officer (CMO) of Imphal West District has taken up necessary steps to implement the new steps at the Bir Tikendrajit International airport.

It may be mentioned here that the northeastern states have decided to discontinue Covid-19 testing of incoming air passengers at the airport with effect from December 18 last year. The state Covid task force had taken a decision in this regard during its meeting on December 14, 2020.

With the decline of Manipur’s Covid-19 active cases, the state authority also decided to close down six Covid Care Centres in five districts.

Meanwhile, Manipur reported three new cases (all male) of Covid-19 from the general population at two testing facilities in the past 24 hours, an official sources informed. The new cases were from Imphal West (2) and Chandel (1). However, there was no report of death in the last 24 hours. The total death toll stands at 373.

The cumulative number of positive cases was 29,243 while the numbers of active and recovered cases are 36 and 28,834respectively. The recovery rate reached 98.60 %.

Meanwhile as per latest official information, altogether 41,706 persons including healthcare workers and frontline workers received Covid-19 vaccine shots in Manipur, including 1,588 on Monday.

As on Tuesday, a total of 29,616 healthcare workers were vaccinated with the first dose of Covishield, an official source stated.