Amid escalating condition of spread of COVID-19 infection in the country, a 25-year-old patient undergoing treatment at Base hospital Kotdwar (Pauri district) was found positive for the disease. With it the number of COVID-19 infected patients in Uttarakhand has risen to five.

The confirmation of presence of virus in the youth means that the dreaded disease which hitherto was confined to Dehradun has reached to the mountainous area of the State.

As per the available information, the youth was working as a chef in Spain and had recently returned to his home located in the small town of Dugadda near Kotdwar in Pauri district. On March 16, he was admitted in Base hospital Kotdwar and his swab sample was taken for test on March 21.

The health department received reports of 30 samples on Wednesday and out of them 29 samples were found negative while one was found positive. The department has so far collected swab samples of 265 suspected patients for COVID -19 test. On Wednesday, swab samples of 28 suspected patients of the disease were sent to government medical college Haldwani for test of COVID-19. Incidentally this centre is the only facility in the state for test of COVID-19.

On Wednesday the Patanjali Yogpeeth, Haridwar donated a RT PCR Machine to the Haldwani medical college which would increase its existing capacity to check samples of suspected patients of novel Coronavirus.

The mission director of National Health Mission (NHM) Yugal Kishore Pant said that 10 ventilators are being provided for the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) of Mahatma Gandhi hospital in Dehradun for control of COVID-19 in the state.

He said that the health department would soon receive 3 lakh triple layer masks, 40000 N- 95 masks, 350 infrared thermometers and 1000 Personal Protective Equipment (PPE) kits, 40000 gloves and 1000 ICU kits. Similarly 1.5 lakh tablets of hydroxycholoroquine would be supplied to the doctors and paramedical staff as prophylactics.