Tripura announces 3-day lockdown from July 27-30 as COVID-19 cases rise

Agartala: The Tripura government led by Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Saturday decided to impose a 3-day lockdown in the state beginning July 27 to curb coronavirus infection from spreading further.

The lockdown will be in effect from 5 am of July 27 till 5 am of July 30.

The lockdown was announced in the wake of rising COVID-19 cases in the state. One more person succumbed to COVID-19 in Tripura, taking the north-eastern state's toll to 11, while 106 fresh infections pushed its case count to 3,778 on Saturday.

According to a health official, the latest fatality was reported from the 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 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 had tweeted late on Friday, "106 people found COVID-19 positive out of 4,045 samples tested."

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state now stands at 1,618. While 2,131 people have recovered, 18 patients have migrated out of the state, he said.

Meanwhile, Education Minister and Cabinet spokesperson Ratan Lal Nath said preparations are being made to launch a door-to-door survey across the state from July 27 to check the rapid rise in COVID-19 cases.

"Health personnel and ASHA and Anganwadi workers will be involved in the week-long survey to detect COVID-19 patients. This exercise will give us a complete picture of the spread of the infection," he had told reporters on Friday.

Tripura's positivity rate of 2.86 per cent and fatality rate of 0.27 per cent are better than the national averages of 8.36 per cent and 2.83 per cent, respectively, he had said.