Nagaland's coronavirus tally rises to 3,805 after reporting 21 new cases

Twenty-one more people have

tested positive for COVID-19 in Nagaland, taking the northeastern state's caseload to 3,805 on Friday, Health Minister S Pangnyu Phom said.

Out of 351 samples tested, 10 new cases were reported in Kohima district, seven in Dimapur, two in Zunheboto and one each in Wokha and Mon, he said.

As many as 123 more people were cured of the disease, taking the recovery rate among the COVID-19 patients in the state to 74.9 per cent on Friday, the minister said.

Four new patients are frontline workers, two are returnees from other states and one is security personnel, while the remaining are contacts, a health official said.

The number of active cases in the state stands at 929, while 2,858 people have recovered from the disease so far, nine have died and an equal number of patients have migrated to other states, he said.

Dimapur has the highest number of active cases at 441, followed by Kohima (392), Mon (40) and Zunheboto (31), the official said.

Phom inaugurated a bio-safety laboratory in Tuensang district for testing of samples for COVID-19.

He said the bio-safety level-2 (BSL-2) laboratory will benefit the residents of Kiphire, Longleng, Mon, Noklak and Tuensang districts of eastern Nagaland.

BSL-2 and BSL-3 laboratories are functional in Christian Institute of Health Sciences and Research (CIHSR), Dimapur and Naga Hospital, Kohima respectively, the minister added.