Health Ministry asks 6 northeastern states to step up Covid-19 measures

With the North East emerging as the new worry on the Covid-19 front, the Union Health Ministry on Wednesday wrote to six out of seven northeastern states, asking them to improve testing, containment measures and vaccination in order to ensure that the pandemic does not spiral in these states.

A high-level review meeting chaired by the Union Home Secretary Ajay Bhalla and attended by top officials from the northeastern states reviewed the scenario in each of seven states, Sikkim and the union territories.

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The focus, however, remained on the NE states as out of 73 districts with a positivity rate of 10% and more, as many as 46 districts are in those states.

In Arunachal Pradesh, there is a 12% increase in weekly new cases since the last four weeks and 19 out of 25 districts have a positivity rate of more than 10%. In neighbouring Assam, 29 out of 33 districts reported more than 100 new cases in the week ending on July 4.

Meghalaya is witnessing a serious Covid-19 situation with Ri Bhoi district reporting a positivity of 33% followed by East Garo Hills (28%) and South Garo Hills (20%). East Khasi district saw 1,176 new cases last week and a 53% increase in deaths. Tripura reported 2,814 new cases in the last week as all the eight districts reported more than 100 new cases.

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In Mon and Wokha districts of Nagaland, the fatality rate is 17% and 13% respectively, which is way above the national rate of 1.32%. In Sikkim, there is a 25% increase in weekly new cases as three of the four districts of the hill states have reported more than 100 new cases in the week ending on July 4.

The NE states have been advised to strictly monitor the situation at district and city level and take timely corrective measures, wherever any early sign of surge is noticed. For those districts identified with high case positivity and higher bed occupancy, the states have been advised to consider imposing restrictions in a calibrated manner.

Strict enforcement of Covid-19 appropriate behaviour was reiterated and it was advised to involve political leaders and civil society organisations.

The Health Ministry also wrote to Kerala and Odisha two other states where the number of new cases is on an upswing. Last week, central teams were sent to Kerala, Arunachal Pradesh, Tripura, Odisha, Chhattisgarh and Manipur for an inspection “in view of the increased number of Covid-19 cases being reported by these states.”