Alarming spike in Covid cases in Assam, other NE states
Times of India | 12 January 2022
GUWAHATI: Covid cases witnessed an alarming spike in Assam on Tuesday as the number of daily cases jumped close to the 3,000 mark — to 2,837 from Monday’s 2,198 cases.
The positivity rate too has gone up by more than 1% from 4.49% 5.69% the previous day. A total of 49,840 tests were done on Tuesday, which was almost 1,000 more than Monday’s.
A senior health department official reported two Covid fatalities in the entire state in the last 24 hours, which, according to him, indicates a lower risk to life in the third wave. However, rapid spread in Guwahati has been the biggest concern. About 8,600 tests were done in Kamrup (Metro) on Tuesday, which is higher than any other district in the state.
“The positive rate may fluctuate but the total cases are going up with increase in testing,” he added. With continuous rise in positive cases, the number of active Covid cases in the state has gone up to 9,253 by Tuesday evening. The corresponding figure was 6,867 the previous day.
On Tuesday, highest 870 cases were detected in the Kamrup (Metro) district, under which the Guwahati city falls, followed by Jorhat (215 cases) and Cachar (189 cases). Dibrugarh had 170 cases.
“All three districts from where a higher number of cases have been detected are important transit routes or nerve centres of three different parts of the state. Larger footfall will surely aggravate the situation,” said the official. In Guwahati, the positive rate stood over 10% on Tuesday.
“Wherever we are going for testing, new cases are being detected. Government offices, market places, residential areas, everywhere the infection has spread,” Ganesh Saikia, joint director of health services, Kamrup (Metro), told TOI on Tuesday.
Total 4,189 positive cases have been detected in Kamrup (Metro) in the last 10 days. This is multiple times higher than Kamrup (Rural) district which remains second in the tally of last 10 day’s case number at 693.