Five Army jawans among 94 new coronavirus cases in HP; active case tally crosses 1000-mark

Himachal Pradesh reported 94 new COVID-19 cases on Monday, including five Army jawans and two CAPF personnel, taking the state's tally to 2,271, officials said.

The number of active COVID-19 cases in the state stands at 1,025.

Among the fresh cases, 31 were reported from Sirmaur, 16 from Kangra, 15 from Solan, 11 from Bilaspur, 10 from Mandi, five from Shimla, three from Chamba, two from Una and one from Hamirpur, Additional Chief Secretary (Health) R D Dhiman said.

In Kangra, five Army soldiers, their three contacts, two central armed police forces (CAPF) personnel and a woman who recently returned from Punjab's Radha Soami Satsang Beas are among the fresh cases, Deputy Commissioner Rakesh Prajapati said.

In Shimla, the five new cases are family members of a police personnel residing in Bharai who tested positive a few days ago, according to officials.

In Hamirpur, after former Nadaun MLA and HRTC vice-chairman Vijay Agnihotry tested COVID-19 positive on Sunday, Hamirpur MLA Narinder Thakur went into home quarantine on Monday.

District officials stated that Agnihotry's sample was taken on July 24 and he was found positive on July 26.

The district Congress leaders criticised Agnihotry alleging he attended many functions and met a large number of people even after his sample was taken.

Agnihotry has been shifted to a dedicated COVID care centre in NIT-Hamirpur.

An official spokesman stated that the samples of Agnihotry's primary and secondary contacts are being taken in Nadaun, Galore and Hamirpur.

Meanwhile, a 75-year-old home quarantined man tested positive on Monday, Hamirpur CMO Dr Archna Soni said.

COVID-19 has so far claimed 13 lives in the state, while 1,216 people have recovered and 15 migrated out of the state.

In the last 24 hours, eighteen patients -- six in Kullu, four in Una, three in Mandi, two each in Shimla and Chamba and one in Solan -- recovered from the infection, Dhiman said.

Solan has the highest number of active cases in the state at 380, followed by 210 in Sirmaur, 110 in Kangra, 88 in Shimla, 77 in Mandi, 55 in Una, 25 in Chamba, 33 in Bilaspur, 21 in Hamirpur, 17 in Kinnaur and 9 in Kullu.