Shimla, May 12 (IANS): Himachal Pradesh Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur on Tuesday said that with one lakh people returning to Himachal Pradesh from across the country, the number of active COVID-19 cases has spiked to 25 in the hill state.

At a virtual meeting with Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, Thakur said till May 1 there was only one active case in the state. With the arrival of one lakh people from outside the state the number of active cases rose to 25.

He said the doubling rate of COVID-19 patients a week ago was 99 days which has come down to 12.5 days.

The Chief Minister said the state is doing 1,478 tests per million, higher than the national average of 1,367 per million.

He said the state has identified COVID-19 hospitals to ensure that patients with other ailments get adequate opportunity for their treatment. He said the Active Case Finding Campaign, launched by involving 16,000 ASHA and health workers, helped in tracing the suspected cases.

Thakur said 35 patients have been cured in the state. Two people have died in the state, out of them one was a chronic patient and another was suffering from a kidney ailment.

The state has made institutional quarantine mandatory for people visiting the state from those parts of the country classified as red zones.