The speculations of the new UK variant coronavirus in Manipur subsided on Thursday as the test result of a UK returnee returned negative for the new strain virus.
One of the two students from Manipur who recently returned from the UK where they studied tested positive for COVID-19 on December 26 last. Suspecting if the virus infected with the returnee is the new variant COVID-19 spreading in the country, the state Health department sent his swab sample at NIV Pune for confirmation on January 4 last. The state Health department received the result on Thursday confirming it as negative for the new variant coronavirus, an official source said.
Confirming the test result with negative for the new strain COVID-19, chief minister N Biren Singh stated on a Facebook post “Happy news, UK returnee…is covid Negative at NIV Pune.” “So no UK strain in Manipur till today,” he added.
Meanwhile, Manipur COVID-19 overall caseload surged to 28,531 on Thursday with the detection of 47 fresh positive cases during the testing of 1,615 samples over the past 24 hours (till 4pm of January 7). The tally included 27,677 recoveries and 490 active cases, according to a daily update report of the state Health department.
A total of 35 patients were discharged on Thursday after recovering. The recovery tally of the state stood at 97.00%.
The 490 active cases included 21 CAPF personnel.
With one for COVID-19 related dead reported during the last 24 hours, the pandemic has claimed 364 lives in the state.
The 47 fresh cases were detected during testing of 1,615 samples. A total of 4,86,172 have been tested for the contagion in the state so far.
Of the fresh positive cases, three are CAPF personnel and of the 44 fresh cases from the general populace, 27 were from Imphal West, 11 from Imphal East, two from Chandel district and one each from Bishnupur, Churachandpur, Noney and Ukhrul districts.
The 35 patients discharged over the last 24 hours included eight CAPF personnel and 20 on home isolations, as per the update report.
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