Manipur Social Welfare and Cooperation Minister Nemcha Kipgen has said that she has been tested positive for Coronavirus.
“After getting symptoms of Coronavirus, I got myself tested and the report came positive. I sincerely request all of you who have come in contact with me in the past few days to kindly isolate yourselves and get yourselves tested at the earliest,” the minister tweeted on Tuesday morning.
However, the minister is currently under home isolation at her Lamphel quarter. Although her Truenat sample came positive, she will undergo second test with RT-PCR, sources said.
The minister has been actively involved in reaching out to the returnees, those in quarantine centres, those affected by COVID-19. Recently, she handed out jerry cans of hypochlorite, full PPEs, gloves, masks, sanitizers, etc for the frontline workers at Mao gate and other strategic places, including district administration, medical department, police, voluntary CSOs and others.
During a review meeting at Senapati on August 21, Nemcha emphasised on how to live with the pandemic COVID-19 and urged the people of Senapati to learn how to live with the virus just like it is with HIV/AIDS, Malaria, Zika and other diseases. “Learning how to live with the virus will change the lifestyle, which is one of the most important factors to overcome the deadly virus,” she had said.
On earlier occasion too, the minister had been spreading awareness on COVID-19. At a review meeting on August 5, Nemcha had said, “Situation has come to the extent that only the government will no longer be able to prevent the spread of the dreaded virus as there is an alarming situation of local transmission where community itself becomes the only tool to tackle and prevent the spread of the virus”.
Following the alarming spike in the case at Kangpokpi district in June, Nemcha had urged the district machineries to take appropriate measures for timely prevention of community transmission in the district.
Also, when thousands of stranded people returned home to Manipur in May, the minister ensured all help to them and said there is a need to make returnees from outside the state feel at home while keeping them under surveillance as per protocol in various institutional quarantine centres.