COVID-19 gripping Northeast, 45 districts have over 10% positivity rate
As many as 45 of the 73 districts that reported more than 10% coronavirus positivity rate in the previous week are from the Northeast region of the country, the Union Health Ministry said. Positivity rate is the number of positive cases per 100 samples tested. This means the drop in daily cases in North-eastern states could be simply because of low testing.
18 districts in Arunachal Pradesh reported over 10% positivity rate
A total of 73 districts in India reported a positivity rate of over 10% between June 29 and July 5. Of them, a whopping 61% are from North-eastern states: Arunachal Pradesh (18 districts), Manipur (9), Meghalaya (6), Tripura (4), Sikkim (4), Nagaland (3), and Mizoram (1). Manipur (5,974) has the highest number of active cases there, followed by Meghalaya, Tripura, Mizoram, Sikkim, and Nagaland.
Expert suggests more testing, micro containment zones
Dr. Balram Bhargava, the Director General of the Indian Council of Medical Research, said that North-eastern states need to ramp up their daily testing and set up local-level containment zones. "We are encouraging them to do more testing and increase their reporting of testing...If (the positivity rate) is going beyond 10%, they have to make micro containment zones," he added.
595 districts reported less than 5% positivity rate
Meanwhile, 65 districts had a positivity rate between 5 to 10% while 595 districts reported less than 5% positivity rate. "The second wave has come down in most states. However, some states are still in the midst of the second wave," Dr. Bhargava warned. India is carrying out an average of 18 lakh daily COVID-19 tests, he further informed.
India reports 43K new cases
India had faced a deadly second wave of COVID-19 earlier this year, reporting lakhs of infections and thousands of deaths daily amid a crumpled healthcare system. The situation has since improved. In the past 24 hours, the country reported over 43,000 new cases and 930 deaths. However, experts have warned that a third wave of infections could hit India as early as next month.
How is India's vaccination drive going?
More than 36 lakh coronavirus vaccine doses were administered in the past 24 hours and the total number of doses administered in the country has crossed 36 crore, according to the data from the Health Ministry. However, less than 5% of the Indian population has been fully vaccinated as yet. The government aims to inoculate all adults by the end of this year.
