14 new COVID-19 cases in Sikkim, total count 27

At least 14 people including 11 women tested positive for COVID-19 in Sikkim which took the tally to 27. Of the fresh patients, 12 had recently returned from Maharashtra and two from neighbouring West Bengal. All the patients are treated at the STNM Hospital.

Gangtok: Fourteen more people, including 11 women, tested positive for COVID-19 in Sikkim on Friday, taking the total number of cases in the state to 27, an official said.

Of the fresh patients, 12 had recently returned from Maharashtra and two from neighbouring West Bengal, and they were in various quarantine centres in East Sikkim district, the health department's director general-cum-secretary Dr Pempa T Bhutia said.

"Nine were in Bahai School quarantine facility in Ranipool area, three in Epica garden and two in PNG School," he said.

They have been shifted to the COVID-19 isolation ward of the STNM Hospital, he said.

The three quarantine centres have been declared as containment zones, Bhutia said, adding that contact-tracing was underway. Sikkim has 24 active COVID-19 cases, while three patients have recovered from the disease.

(PTI report)