Sikkim reports second COVID-19 case in 10 days

The state which remained coronavirus free due to timely measures had reported the first positive case on May 23

Gangtok: A man who returned from Delhi recently tested positive for COVID-19 in Sikkim, taking the number of cases in the state to two, a senior health official said on Wednesday.

"The 56-year-old man, who returned from the national capital on May 25, was found to be COVID-19 positive on Tuesday night," said health secretary Pempa Tshering Bhutia.

He was lodged at a quarantine facility in the mining area of East Sikkim on arrival from Delhi, he said.

However, his two direct contacts living in the same room have tested negative.

Sikkim now has two COVID-19 cases, and both are asymptomatic, Bhutia said.

Both the patients are undergoing treatment at STNM Hospital in Sokeythang near the state capital, the health official said.

Sikkim reported its first case of COVID-19 on May 23 when a 25-year-old man from Ravangla in the South District tested positive after returning from Delhi.

The development came a day after the state government announced that classes for students from Class 9 to university level would resume from June 15. With this Sikkim becomes the first state in the country to partially open educational institutions.

Chief minister Prem Singh Tamang had been reiterating that the real challenge would begin after Sikkimese people and students start returning from other states after relaxation of the lockdown.

Sikkim was one of the first states to seal inter-state and international borders and ban entry of both domestic and foreign tourists and migrant labourers.

Timely and drastic measures had helped Sikkim remain COVID-19 free till May 24 while adjoining Darjeeling and Kalimpong districts in West Bengal witnessed several infected people.