Agartala, A week after Tripura was declared novel coronavirus free, two Border Security Force jawans were tested positive for COVID-19 on Saturday, Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb said.

Deb, who also holds the Health and Home Departments, said in a tweet: "Two persons from Ambassa (northern Tripura's Dhalai District) BSF unit found COVID-19 positive. Total positive cases in Tripura stands at four (two already discharged, so active hospital cases two)."

A senior BSF officer told IANS that one of the two infected persons belongs to Assam and he has been suffering from some ailments after he returned to Tripura from his home state on March 11.

"The ailing jawan and his attending colleague have tested positive for coronavirus at the (Tripura government runs) Govind Ballabh Pant Medical College and Hospital (in Agartala)," the officer said, refusing to be named.

With the recovery of the second patient, a 32-year-old Tripura State Rifles jawan and a resident of Uttar Pradesh, on April 25, the Tripura government had declared the northeastern state as novel coronavirus free.

The state's first patient (a 45-year-old woman tested positive for the virus on April 6 after she returned from Assam by train) has already recovered and was discharged on April 15.