16 more Covid 19 cases from BSF camp in Tripura takes state’s tally to 148
Dhalai district in Tripura where the BSF camps are located had already been declared a ‘ red zone’ due to rise in Covid-19 cases.
Tripura recorded 16 fresh Covid-19 positive cases on Sunday from a Border Security Force’s (BSF) camp on Sunday at Ambassa in Dhalai District, nearly 100 kilometres from Agartala, officials said.
Among those who tested positive in the BSF’s 86th Battalion camp are one BSF official, six women and nine children. The new cases took the tally of active cases in the state to 148.
All these positive cases were found from the 86th Battalion and 138th Battalion of BSF since May 2. Both the battalions are closely located at Ambassa. However, no community transmission was found among the civilians in Dhalai so far, officials said.
Dhalai district had already been declared a ‘ red zone’ due to rise in Covid-19 cases.
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Chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb took to Twitter to announce the latest cases.
“ALERT ! 16 persons found #COVID19 POSITIVE in Tripura from 86th-Bn #BSF (Official:1, Female:6, Children: 9). We are conducting max number of tests. 75 Samples from 3rd-Bn BSF tested but all reports are NEGATIVE,” he wrote.
In addition to Jawharnagar with three kilometres radius around it, BSF’s Gandacherra base camp and Kareena Border OutPost, a Border OutPost of BSF 3rd Battalion located at Dhalaighat village, nearly 95 kilometres from Agartala were declared as containment zones.
The first two patients in the state had recovered in April.
The state government has converted one Bhagat Singh Youth Hostel in Agartala into a Covid-19 care centre with 300 beds to tackle the rising cases of infection.
With the addition of these 300 beds, the state currently has a total of 410 beds for Covid-19 treatment including 80 beds at GBP hospital and 30 beds at IGM Hospital.
Protesting against the government’s decision to convert the youth hostel, the local residents on Sunday blocked the road for a few hours, but they later withdrew their protest after the police intervened.