Coronavirus: 1 more tests positive, total cases climb to 16 in Andaman and Nicobar

One more person tested positive for COVID-19 in Andaman and Nicobar Islands on Monday, taking the total number of coronavirus cases to 16, officials said.

The new patient is a colleague of a government employee, a resident of the Bambooflat area in South Andaman, who tested positive for the infection last week, said Avijit Roy, the nodal officer of the disease here.

The total number of active cases in the Union Territory is five at present with reporting of the new case, he added.

Three family members of the 49-year-old government employee, including his wife, tested positive over the past two days. They are all undergoing treatment at the GB Pant Hospital here.

South Andaman has been declared a clustural hotspot zone, officials said.

The other eleven persons have already recovered. Ten of them are linked to the Tablighi Jamaat congregation in Delhi, while the other patient travelled with them in the same flight from Kolkata to Port Blair.

Meanwhile, state-run BSNL is set to operationalise high- speed internet service in Port Blair to help students, who are attending online sessions of their course work, besides aiding the public amid the lockdown, officials said.

Nicobar district Deputy Commissioner Monika Priyadarshini said the local tribes are making 10,000 masks to aid the fight against the virus.