OUR REPORTER AIZAWL, APRIL 23
Mizoram has not reported any case of COVID-19 variants till date even as the Northeastern state grapples with the second wave of the Chinese origin virus, which has so far claimed more than 30 lakh lives worldwide.
The Mizoram government had sent as many as 326 samples from COVID19 infected positive patients to National Institute of Biomedical Genomics (NIBMG) in West Bengal for genome sequencing, according to state spokesperson for Covid-19 Dr Pachuau Lalmalsawma.
The samples were sent between December 2020 and April this year, he said.
“Of the 326 samples, results of 69 samples have been already received and all of them tested negative for new variants of COVID-19,” Pachuau said.
He said that the results of the remaining samples are awaited.
Mizoram, equipped with poor medical facilities as compared to other states, is now grappling with the second wave of COVID-19 after a spike in cases were reported since March end.
The landlocked state, however, is known to be one of the best performing states in the country in tackling the world pandemic, the reputation it had earned because of the collective efforts made by the state government, village authorities, churches and NGOs.
The state has so far reported only 12 COVID-19 fatalities.
State capital Aizawl and 10 other district headquarters are now under virtual lockdown to break the chain of COvid-19 transmission. The lockdown will end on 4 am of April 26.
According to Pachuau, who is also the state nodal officer of Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme (IDSP), as many as 4,216 people, including 1,001 security personnel, were diagnosed with COVID-19 in 2020.
While 2,220 patients have travel history, the rest 1,996 were locally infected, he said.
He said that at least 1,004 COVID19 cases were reported from first January till April 23 this year and 552 cases were locally transmitted while the rest 452 patients have travel history. Mizoram reported its first Covid-19 case on March 24 last year. The number of total COVID-19 cases now stands at 5,220, of which 603 are active. A total of 4,605 people have recovered from the infection.
Aizawl district reported the highest cases at 3,502, followed by Lunglei district, which reported 454 cases till Friday. With 23 cases each, Khawzawl and Hnahthial districts reported the least, and both are the only COVID-19 free districts in the state as of now.
(Source: The Mizoram Post Vol. 18 Issue 311 Aizawl Saturday 24 April 2021 http://www.themizorampost.net/page-view?date=24-04-2121&page_no=1)