Agartala: Tripura registered its second COVID-19 death on Saturday when a 72-year-old man succumbed to the disease at a government-run hospital in Agartala, an official said.
The coronavirus count in Tripura also rose to 1,932 after 141 more people tested positive for the virus.
State Health Secretary Sanjay Kumar Rakesh said that a man from Khowai district was admitted to the GB Pant Hospital on Friday with symptoms of COVID-19 infection and liver ailments.
“His swab sample was tested and the result came out positive. He died at 8 pm,” the official said.
Earlier, a 42-year-old man died of coronavirus infection in the same hospital on June 9.
There are 544 active cases in the state while 1,372 patients have recovered from the infection, two persons have died and 14 persons have migrated to other states, the officials said.
Meanwhile, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Saturday tweeted: “Spoke to CM Sh @BjpBiplab ji who assured me that situation is well under control. Door-To-Door Rapid Antigen Covid Testing shall start full swing Monday onwards. Aggressive testing & containment measures are being taken after Covid cases shot up recently.”
Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb, in a tweet, on Friday night had requested people of the state to be cautious.
He said that “141 People found COVID-19 POSITIVE today out of 2125 samples tested.”
According to the officials, 79,430 samples have been tested so far in the state for COVID-19.
At present 4,759 patients are in home isolation and 329 patients are in institutional quarantine.
In view of the spurt in the coronavirus cases, the Tripura government has begun carrying out rapid antigen tests for detection of COVID-19, state Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath told reporters on Friday night.
“The new antigen detection kits were used by health workers at Agartala Railway station on Friday. The kits will be used for carrying out COVID-19 tests across the state from tomorrow. It will deliver a report within half an hour,” he said.
Earlier, the state had planned to use rapid antigen detection tests from Monday but the plan was changed following a spike in COVID-19 cases.