OUR REPORTER AIZAWL, SEP 13
The Centre has sent a team to Mizoram to study and assess the Covid-19 situation of the state as the Covid-19 cases, which continues to increase exponentially since April, remained unabated till date despite massive containment measures, an official said.
Official spokesperson on Covid-19 Dr.PachuauLalmalsawma said that two members from the National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) in Delhi and the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, Regional Office, Imphal, Manipur arrived in Aizawl last week to study and assess the rising cases of Covid-19 in the state.
The two experts are currently camping in west Mizoram's Mamit town, he said.
Mizoram continues to register a spike in Covid-19 cases since April this year.
On several occasions, the state used to report more than 1,000 cases in a day.
Between September 7 and September 10, the state reported more than 1,000 cases daily for four consecutive days.
On September 7, the state had reported 1468 Covid-19 cases, which was the highest ever single-day spike in the state.
According to Pachuau, at least 1,655 cases were reported in April, 6,268 in May, 8,093 in June, 18,433 in July and 21,074 in August this year.
More than 11,300 cases have been reported in the current month so far, he said. Pachuau attributed the high positivity rate to high number of sample tests, the conduct of mass testing in Aizawl Municipal Corporation (AMC) and surrounding areas and good contact tracing. Unlike in other parts of the country, majority of those tested or screened were highly suspect or potential carriers of the virus, which resulted in a high number of positive cases, he said.
He claimed that Mizoram was the best performing state in the Northeast in terms of Covid-19 test. Pachuau also said that other states might experience Mizoram-like rising cases if they conduct testing in the manner Mizoram is doing.
Apart from the contact tracing team constituted by the government, local volunteers were very active in tracing persons, who came in contact with positive patients, he said.
Any person, who came in contact with Covid-19 patient, was hardly missed during contact tracing, he added.
Mizoram on Monday reported 541 new Covid-19, pushing the state's tally to 71,381.
The single-day infection rate was 31 per cent as the fresh cases were detected from 1,744 sample tests.
The death toll rose to 241 as three more people have succumbed to the infection on Monday, according to a government bulletin.
The number of active cases now stands at 12,080, while 59,060 people have recovered from the infection, including 313 people on Monday till 5 pm.
(Source: The Mizoram Post Vol. 19 Issue 110 Aizawl Tuesday 14 September 2021http://www.themizorampost.net/page-view?date=14-09-2121&page_no=1)