HP sees 83% drop in virus cases in 2021

SHIMLA/DHARAMSHALA: Though Himachal Pradesh witnessed an 83% drop in coronavirus (Covid) cases in January, the hill-state remains on edge because of the spurt in infections among schoolteachers.

In January, the state reported 2,487 new infections against 14,759 in December. As many as 57,764 infections and 979 Covidlinked deaths had been reported in Himachal till February 5. The state’s recovery rate is 97.5% and the case fatality rate is 1.6%.

Chief minister Jai Ram Thakur attributes the decline largely to curbs imposed after the spurt in cases in November. “Though the situation in the state is better now, people should remain cautious and follow all guidelines. “Towards the end of January, the daily caseload was between 20 and 30. However, on January 30, two days before schools opened for regular classes, the state saw a sudden spike in the infections with 94 people testing positive.

Mandi-worst affected

Forty-one of them were schoolteachers from one sub-division of Mandi district. Since then, around 100 government schoolteachers have caught the infection. Of 364 cases reported between January 30 and February 5, 171 were reported from Mandi alone.

Decline in fatalities

Not only did the infections drastically decline in 2021 but the deaths slowed down as well. The case fatality rate dropped by around 84% in January as only 45 people succumbed to the contagion compared to 287 fatalities in December 2020.