1 more dies of Covid in Tripura, toll rises to 11; 106 new cases reported

AGARTALA: One more person died of Covid-19 in Tripura , taking the state’s toll to 11, even as the state government on Saturday said teachers, panchayat secretaries, teshildars and staff of various departments would be engaged, along with health workers, to carry out a survey for identification of persons for rapid antigen kit test for Covid-19 from Monday.

A total of 106 fresh cases were reported in the state, taking the state’s count to 3,778, a health official said on Saturday. The latest fatality was reported from Gomati district.

A 70-year-old man from Gomati’s Udaipur died due to Covid-19 on Friday, the official said.

The man, who was suffering from cardiac ailments and high blood pressure, was admitted to Agartala Government Medical College here on July 20 after he complained of chest pain. He tested positive for coronavirus on the same day, the official said.

Chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb tweeted late on Friday, “106 people found COVID-19 positive out of 4,045 samples tested.”

Meanwhile, the state government said those engaged in the Covid survey would look for influenza-like illness, symptoms of acute respiratory problems, comorbid condition and recent travel history.

About 7,000 such teams were being formed comprising at least four persons, including a medical officer or postgraduate medical student who would sign the testing report instantly, while two other trained persons will collect the swabs and the fourth person in the team would upload the data on a real-time basis to ICMR.

However, the government orders read, “The process of survey will be supervised by the supervising officer who could be a panchayat secretary, tehsildar , teacher or any other officer or employee found available and suitable in the area. He/she will ensure a line listing of identified patients and would submit the report in the identified centre. (They would) also coordinate with the health team for the Covid testing process.”

The officials said the target is to complete the survey in a week, so that the spread of the virus could be contained faster. “Considering the geographical area and canvass of population, the experts have suggested going for an intensive house-to-house survey and the state government is bringing another consignment of rapid testing kits of about a lakh,” they said.