Delhi Police personnel, SpiceJet passenger among 5 fresh COVID-19 cases in Himachal; tally 346

The number of coronavirus cases in Himachal Pradesh rose to 346 on Tuesday as five more people were confirmed positive for the infection, officials said.

The fresh cases include a Delhi Police personnel, a SpiceJet passenger and a Delhi Transport Corporation (DTC) employee, they said. While three fresh cases were reported from Kangra district, two were detected from Mandi district, Special Secretary (Health) Nipun Jindal said. He further said 18 patients -- nine in Hamirpur, four in Mandi, two in Una, one each in Bilaspur, Kangra and Sirmaur -- recovered from coronavirus on Tuesday.

A 22-year-old woman from Bhaniara village in Shahpur in Kangra, who arrived on a SpiceJet flight from Delhi on May 26, tested positive for COVID-19, an official said. A student, she was asymptomatic, he added. A 56-year-old Delhi Police personnel also tested positive for the novel coronavirus, the official said. A resident of Sunehar, he returned from Delhi in a car on May 27 and was asymptomatic as well, the official added.

Both of them are being shifted to the Panchayati Raj Training Institute (PRTI) in Baijnath, he said. A 57-year-old ex-serviceman from Bairghatta in Dheera also tested positive, the official said, adding he returned from Delhi on May 30. He works in the DTC and was in home quarantine since his arrival, the official said.

Having co-morbidity, the man is being shifted to the Dedicated COVID Health Centre (DCHC) at the zonal hospital in Dharamshala, he added. In Mandi, two men, aged 23 and 31, who returned from Mumbai, tested positive for COVID-19, a district official said.

They are from Ladhbhadol and Paddar blocks and were institutionally quarantined at Jogindernagar, he added.

The number of coronavirus cases in the state has risen to 346. The active cases are 200, while 140 patients have recovered. Six have died of the infection, the officials said. Hamirpur has the highest number of active cases in the state at 72, followed by 56 in Kangra, 18 in Solan, 17 in Una, 13 in Chamba, 10 in Bilaspur, seven in Shimla, five in Mandi, and one each in Kullu and Sirmaur.