OUR REPORTER AIZAWL, JUNE 21
Mizoram Covid-19 scenario continues to worsen as the deadly virus has entered a private run orphanage home cum de-addiction centre located in the northern fringe of Aizawl where 528 new Covid-19 cases were detected during mass screening on Sunday, an official said. Mizoram medical operational team chairman and Mizo National Front (MNF) ruling legislator Dr. ZR Thiamsanga said as many as 662 new Covid-19 cases were reported across the state in the last 24 hours, which is the highest ever single-day spike in the state.
The single-day positivity rate was 35.26 per cent, the highest in the state, as the fresh cases were detected from 1,877 samples tested on Sunday, he said.
Mizoram reported its first Covid- 19 case on March 24, 2020 and first Covid-19 fatality on October 28 that year.
Of the 662 fresh cases, 528 were detected at Thutak Nunpuitu Team (TNT), an orphanage home cum de-addiction centre located at Zuangtui's Muanna Veng in the northern fringe of Aizawl, Thiamsanga said.
The detection of huge Covid-19 cases at TNT has shocked the state.
According to Thiamsanga, the recent detection of Covid-19 cases in five inmates have caused concern, which prompted the state government to conduct mass screening at the centre on Sunday.
He said that he along with officials from state integrated disease surveillance programme (IDSP) visited the centre on Sunday and conducted spot verification at the request of health minister Dr. R. Lalthangliana after five inmates were found infected with Covid-19.
"During an interaction with the management of the centre and contact tracing on Sunday, we were of the belief that the virus could have spread to other inmates on a large scale, which prompted us to conduct mass screening on the day itself," he said.
About 1,500 inmates (children and adults), including caregivers, live at TNT, the orphanage home cum de-addiction centre run by an individual named Dr. Sangthankima, according to Thiamsanga. The rehabilitation centre has survived for about 30 years on public contribution and help from NGOs, generous people and occasionally from the state government. Thiamsanga said that 989 samples were tested during mass screening at the centre on Sunday and 53.38 per cent of them came out as positive for Covid-19.
He said that about 150 patients have developed mild symptoms of Covid-19 and the rest were asymptomatic.
Meanwhile, Aizawl district administration has declared Muanna Veng as a containment zone and converted some compartments of the centre into Community Covid-19 Care Centres (CCCC).
The state government has also appointed some officials and local leaders to specially monitor the TNT centre under the supervision of medical operational team on Covid19. A high-level meeting will be held on Monday afternoon to specifically review the Covid-19 scenario of TNT centre, Thiamsanga said.
Meanwhile, an official statement said that a total of 662 new cases were reported in the state in the last 24 hours with Aizawl registering the highest at 639, followed by Kolasib district at 11.
657 of new Covid-19 cases were detected through Rapid Antigen Test, while 5 were detected through TrueNat tests, it said.
The state's Covid-19 count stands at 17,605 of which 3,946 are active.
13,575 people have recovered from the infection, including 185 people on Monday.
The death toll in the state climbed to 84 as three more persons have succumbed to the infraction in the last 24 hours, an official said.
The state has tested 4,54,332 samples for Covid-19 till date.
According to state immunisation officer Dr. Lalzawmi, 3,70,107 people have been administered the first dose of Covid-19 vaccine till Saturday and of this 53,517 people have received both the doses.
(Source: Source: The Mizoram Post Vol. 19 Issue 26 Aizawl Tuesday 22 June 2021 http://www.themizorampost.net/page-view?date=22-06-2021&page_no=1)