Written By: Longjam Dineshwori | Updated : April 7, 2021 2:49 PM IST
Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb
Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb on Wednesday took to the Twitter to confirm that he has tested positive for the novel coronavirus and have isolated himself at home. The CM took rapid antigen test after he developed suspected symptoms of COVID-19 on Wednesday, the results came positive. West Tripura district health officer Dr Sangeeta Chakraborty told reporters that the report for RT-PCR test is awaited. "I have been tested positive for Covid-19. I have isolated myself at home as per the advice of doctors. I request everyone to please follow all the covid appropriate behaviour and stay safe," Deb tweeted on Wednesday.
Just three days back, the Tripura governments had issued new guidelines with certain restrictions to tackle the second wave of the COVID-19 in the state. The government had made Covid-19 testing mandatory for people arriving in Tripura from abroad as well as states having a high prevalence of Covid-19 at Agartala airport.
Meanwhile, India recorded over 1.15 lakh new COVID cases in the last 24 hours, the highest since the beginning of the pandemic. With these new infections, the country's tally has crossed 1.28 crore. The country also registered 630 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total coronavirus death count in India to 1,66,177. Five states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Punjab - cumulatively account for over 75 per cent of the total active Covid-19 cases in India.
The Centre has warned that the next four weeks are "very, very critical" to stopping the spread of the deadly virus. It has called for people's participation to control the second wave of contagion. NITI Aayog Member (Health) Dr V K Paul told a press conference, on Tuesday that COVID-19 is spreading at a faster pace than last year and now it is of utmost priority to maintain the pandemic safety protocols. But the tools to fight the pandemic remain the same which are COVID-appropriate behaviour, containment measures, more testing, ramping up medical infrastructure and intensifying vaccination drive, he said. Meanwhile, several states have imposed stricter restrictions to contain the spread of COVID-19. Punjab, Maharashtra and Delhi have imposed night curfew till April 30 to tackle a steep rise in Covid infections.
