Tripura law minister Ratan Lal Nath on Saturday said a meeting was recently held between inspector-general of Border Security Force (BSF), Tripura frontier, and Tripura chief minister Biplab Kumar Deb, where the official was asked to submit a written report of the origin of the novel coronavirus that has spread among the jawans.

The state has the highest number of novel coronavirus positive cases in the Northeast. On Friday, 30 more persons tested positive with Covid-19 in Tripura, raising its cumulative corona count to 118.

Deb tweeted on Friday night, “ALERT! 30 persons found #COVID19 POSITIVE in Tripura today. 25 persons from 86th-Bn #BSF, 4 family members from 138th-Bn #BSF & 1 truck driver. Total #COVID19 patients in Tripura now stands: 118, Active cases: 116, Discharged: 02, Stay Safe! #TripuraCovid19Count”.

Addressing a news conference on Saturday Nath said, “Recently there was a meeting with the inspector-general of Border Security Force (BSF) Tripura frontier and Deb, where the BSF official has provided some inputs of an internal inquiry which was sought by the state government to find out the source of the virus. But the chief minister has asked the officials to submit a written statement within a stipulated timeframe.”

The minister also said that test of 600 samples are under way and around 276 samples were collected from the worst-affected Dhalai district where 116 Covid-19 positive patients were detected.

“We have collected the samples and test was also done from all the close contacts of the positive patients in Dhalai district. However, yesterday more 30 BSF jawans from 86th and 138th Battalion headquarters tested positive so now we are currently tracing their close contacts. Today, test of 600 samples are in process among which 276 were collected from Dhalai district,” Nath said.

From the day first Covid-19 positive patient was found in Dhalai district, a total of 1,440 samples were collected and in which 1,338 samples were tested, among which 115 samples came positive, he added.

On Saturday, Deb tweeted, “#TripuraCares4all. 3 days ago, we launched an online portal to bring back the people of Tripura now stranded in other States due to Lockdown. As of now, as many as 17,000 people of Tripura, now stranded in 11 States, have registered through the online portal for returning home.”

He also wrote, “Wherever the total number of stranded people will be in between 1, 000 to 1200, we shall provide direct train facility. E-pass will be generated on first come first serve basis for free of cost. Govt of Tripura will bear the expenditure for each train from CM's Relief Fund”.