Covid cases rising in smaller states: Centre
Harsh Vardhan says there is a need to strengthen testing facilities in periurban and rural areas
Smaller states are showing an upward trend and there is a need to be cautious about it, said Union health minister Harsh Vardhan while reviewing Covid-19 situation of the north eastern states and West Bengal on Wednesday.
In a statement, the health ministry said the virus was spreading to N-E pockets that are difficult to reach in terms of geography. “There is a new and emerging trend in the country where the smaller states are showing an upward trend,” said Harsh Vardhan.
The review said all districts of Mizoram are showing a rise in new cases. Nagaland shows a sharp increase in daily cases— from 15-20 per day to 300 cases per day— and weekly positivity rate is up from 1% to 34%. Positivity rate is the proportion of people testing positive for an infection among all those tested for it.
In Assam, Kamrup, which is a metropolitan, is contributing almost 45% of the daily new cases, while in Meghalaya, East Khasi Hills and Righboi are reporting sharp increases in daily cases.
Manipur’s recovery rate of 78% and case fatality rate (CFR) of more than 1% was also highlighted during the meeting as a matter of concern.cfr is the proportion of people dying from a disease among all those diagnosed with it.
Sikkim was advised to strengthen community surveillance and ensure strict monitoring of home quarantine to address its high CFR. In Arunachal Pradesh, ICU occupancy is almost 22.5% while the capital complex and Changlang districts are reporting the maximum cases.
All districts of West Bengal are showing a steep increase in positivity rate. Kolkata, North 24 Parganas, South 24 Parganas, Howrah and Nadia were flagged as districts of concern. In Tripura, there has been a steep rise in positivity from 1.3% in April to around 8.7% now, the minister noted. West Tripura, Unakoti, South Tripura were flagged as districts of concern.
The health minister also said that there is a need to strengthen testing facilities in peri-urban and rural areas.
“With changes in guidelines, more and more of rapid antigen tests can be done now, so that the mortality rate can be decreased. There is a need to focus on peri urban and rural areas significantly,” he said.
Decline in Covid positive cases since 2 weeks: Govt
After a consistent increase in Covid-19 case positivity for 10 weeks, a decline has been reported since the last two weeks, the government said on Thursday.
The number of districts reporting a decline in case positivity increased from 210 in April 29-May 5 to 303 districts in May 13-19, it said.
Seven states have more than 25% case positivity, while 22 states have more than 15% case positivity, the government said.
India witnessed a consistent upward trend in weekly tests for Covid-19 since mid-february and average daily tests increased by 2.3 times in 12 weeks, it said. According to a study, 50% people still do not wear a mask and those who do about 64 per cent cover just their mouth but not their nose, it said.