After first positive case, Mizoram gets own Covid-19 testing facility

After Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya and Tripura, Mizoram has also set up a Covid-19 sample testing laboratory at the Zoram Medical College and Hospital in Aizawl.

State Health Minister R Lalthangliana announced that the new laboratory has started functioning from Tuesday.

A 14-member team of doctors, nurses and healthcare workers looking after the lone Covid-19 patient in the state were the first ones to be tested in the facility.

The Health Minister said that the lone positive patient was being given the best care possible and was showing good progress. He also said that all other tests taken from Mizoram have turned out to be negative.

Lalthangliana said that from now onwards, swab samples of suspected coronavirus patient need not be sent to Silchar Medical College in neighbouring southern Assam.

"The new test Lab in Mizoram had already procured 1,000 testing kits from Dibrugarh Medical College (in Assam). With new positive cases being identified recently in neighbouring states of Assam and Tripura, the Mizoram government has also stepped up its vigil along the state's borders," the minister said.

According to health officials, the north-east region has 10 Covid-19 testing centres – six in Assam, one in Meghalaya, one in Tripura and two in Manipur, including one of the Indian Council of Medical Research's (ICMR's) Regional Medical Research Centre at Lahowal in Dibrugarh district.

Health officials in Aizawl said that the 50-year-old Mizo man, who had tested positive last month after he returned from the Netherlands, was still in the Intensive Care Unit of the Zoram Medical College and Hospital in Aizawl.

"His fever was moderately controlled and his condition was stable. His wife and children's swab samples had earlier tested negative and are staying at home," the official said refusing to disclose their identity of the patient.

The Mizoram Police in a statement said that following the recently-held Muslim congregation of Tablighi Jaamat Markaz at Nizamuddin in New Delhi, the police have been on high alert in the state and immediately investigating whether there were any attendees from the state.

"After careful tracing work, there seems to be no evidence of any Muslims attending the conference from Mizoram till now. At the same time, along with the village level task forces, utmost effort is being made to screen and ensure that no person infected with Covid-19 enters Mizoram," said an official.

The Mizoram police are also helping the Assam and Tripura Police to trace any person who might have attended the Tablighi conference from these two states..