Nagaland government removed the principal secretary of health department after a Chennai returnee, who was discharged from quarantine center when the test result was still due, is tested positive for COVID-19, a State official reveals on Sunday.

The State government prompted a judicial inquiry into the incident, he said.

Commissioner and Secretary, Art and Culture, Ahola are replaced with Principal Secretary Menukhol John relieving the latter of his additional charge of the health department.

Headed by retired District and Session Judge L N Sema, a three-member committee is formed to investigate the transference of Chennai returnees to Tuensang. The panel is due to submit its report within 15 days.

The committee will enquire whether standard operation procedures formulated by the government regarding transporting the returnees to their respective districts were followed or not.

The man, who was kept at a quarantine center in Kohima, was released on May 25 and his COVID-19 test report arrived the day after he was released.

He had returned to Tuensang district from the southern metropolis alongside 150 others.

The Eastern Nagaland Peoples' Organisation (ENPO) has demanded action against officials concerned for violation of standard operation procedures (SOP) within the matter, consistent with a notification issued on Saturday.

The Nagaland In-Service Doctors' Association (NIDA), expressing their resentment wrote a letter to Chief Minister Neiphiu Rio, saying the govt had brought "one of the foremost experienced bureaucrats" to the health department to combat the coronavirus outbreak.

"Under his leadership, the department has been ready to intensify effectively its preparedness and response... the association is shocked and dismayed to find out about the hasty removal of the executive head of department," the doctors' body said was quoted as saying in the letter.

The NIDA urged the govt to right away revoke the order.

Meanwhile, seven more returnees from Chennai tested positive for COVID-19 in Nagaland on Sunday, taking the entire number of cases within the state to 43, Health and Family Welfare Minister S Pangnyu Phom said.

The state recorded a surge within the number of cases with migrants from other parts of the country returning home.