The number of Covid-19 cases in Sikkim increased by 1.5 times in the past 24 hours with 36 returnees, mostly from Mumbai, testing positive on Friday night, taking the overall number of infections to 60 in the Himalayan state.

Sikkim, which was the last state in country to be breached by the global pandemic, now has 58 active cases with the discharge of the state’s first two positive patients from the hospital on Saturday.

All 36 new patients were staying at institutional quarantine facilities in South and West districts. Most of them were from among the 191 persons who returned from Mumbai earlier this month. While the 13 patients from West Sikkim have been admitted to the Ayush Hospital in Geyzing, the 23 from South Sikkim were shifted to the New STNM Hospital here.

Pempa T. Bhutia, the secretary-cum-director general of the Sikkim health department, said the swab samples of the 36 persons were initially tested on Thursday along with that of 412 other patients, and they were among the 60 whose reports appeared doubtful. “We had to rerun the tests yesterday (Friday) and 36 came out positive. All of them are asymptomatic,” he said.

In a welcome news, the first two Covid-19 positive patients from the state were discharged on recovery from the New STNM Hospital on Saturday.

As the duo emerged from the main entrance of the New STNM Hospital, state health minister M. K. Sharma was among those present to greet them with a warm round of applause.

“Their (the duo’s) release proves that we are capable (of treating the disease) and are ready to tackle any situation,” he told the media, adding that the two recovered patients, who had returned from Delhi last month, would undergo a 14-day home quarantine before resuming normal life.

Sharma, who is also a well-known skin specialist, said the fact that all the 60 positive cases in the state were detected at the quarantine centres proves the efficacy of the system that has been put in place by the state government to meet the threat posed by the virus. “It is because of the coordinated and regulated approach that we are able to detect, isolate and treat patients so effectively,” he said.

The recovered patients, too, were all praise for the health workers and the system. “I wouldn’t have got the treatment I received here anywhere else. This was like home to me. The doctors and nurses treated me like their son and brother. They took good care of me,” said the younger of the duo who was the first to test positive on May 23.