Covid surge keeps NE states on edge, Assam logs 5,580 cases

GUWAHATI: There is no let-up in Covid-19 infections with most of the NE states reporting a spike. Though Assam logged 5,580 fresh infections and 13 fatalities in the last 24 hours, health department officials attributed the fall in the number of cases to less number of tests.
On Friday, a total of 6,897 Covid cases were reported in Assam after conducting after conducting 56,849 tests.On Saturday, only 45,900 tests were done. The daily test positivity rate in the state stood at 12.16%.
In Kamrup (Metro) district, the highest 1,172 cases were detected on Saturday. The state's Covid recovery rate has further declined to 91.99%.
On the other hand, Meghalaya logged 406 new cases, which is the highest so far this year, raising the number of active cases to 2,002. One death was reported, which pushed the toll to 1,496, said the state health and family welfare department.
Meanwhile, 185 cases of recovery took the number of recovered cases to 84,643 in the state, which has so far registered 88,141 confirmed Covid-19 cases.
The worst-hit East Khasi Hills recorded 304 new cases of Covid-19 infection and one death on Saturday, with the number of active cases going up to 1,377 and number of fatalities to 1,018.
While 56 new cases were detected on Satuday in the West Garo Hills district, which has 277 active cases; 16 cases were detected in Ri-Bhoi, which has 125 active cases; 14 cases in West Jaintia Hills, which has 63 active cases; six cases in West Khasi Hills, which has 30 active cases; three cases each in the East Jaintia Hills and Eastern West Khasi Hills districts, which have 39 and 18 active cases respectively, two cases in South Garo Hills district, which has 17 active cases and one case each in the North Garo Hills district and South West Khasi Hills district, which have 12 and 16 active cases respectively, said the latest official case count.
Mizoram logged 1,116 new infections and four deaths during the last 24 hours, raising the total and active cases to 1,58,368 and 8,561 respectively and total fatalities to 580. There were 1,045 recoveries on Saturday taking the recovered patients to 1,49,227 and the recovery rate to 94.23%.
A senior health department official expressed fear that the recent surge in daily Covid-19 cases in Mizoram was the beginning of the third wave of the pandemic in the state though it is to be technically confirmed. State nodal officer of the Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma said the Covid situation in rural and now urban areas was disturbing.
The surge in Covid cases in rural areas in early January was attributed by health officials to celebration of Christmas and New Year without observing Covid-appropriate behaviour, which included mass singing and dancing in congregations and organising community feasts.
Lalmalsawma suspected that the spike in Covid-19 infections in Aizawl city and district headquarters might be due to the return of those infected in the villages as Mizos usually celebrate Christmas in their native places. He said the results of 319 swab samples of foreigners and others sent to Kolkata for genome sequencing are expected to come by next week.
Arunachal Pradesh's Covid-19 tally rose to 58,803 after 532 more people tested positive for the infection on Saturday, the highest this month, a senior health department official said here. The northeastern state on Friday had logged 449 new cases.
Of the 532 new cases, 181 were registered in the Capital Complex Region, 49 from Lower Dibang Valley, 45 from Tirap, Namsai (43), Changlang (36), Lohit (34) and Papumpare 26, State Surveillance Officer Dr Lobsang Jampa said.
One ITBP jawan and an official of NDRF are among the fresh cases, he said. he death toll remained at 282 as no fresh fatality was reported in the last 24 hours, Jampa said.