High COVID positivity rate in Meghalaya worries Centre; Health Secy shoots letter to CS
In a letter issued to Meghalaya Chief Secretary MS Rao on July 6, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that although the positivity rate has shown a continuous decline since the past four weeks, “it is a point of concern that presently, Meghalaya is still reporting a weekly positivity of 14.05 per cent from June 28 to July 4.”
The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has expressed concern over the continuous increase in the number of COVID-19 cases in the northeastern state of Meghalaya.
In a letter issued to Meghalaya Chief Secretary MS Rao on July 6, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that although the positivity rate has shown a continuous decline since the past four weeks, “it is a point of concern that presently, Meghalaya is still reporting a weekly positivity of 14.05 per cent from June 28 to July 4.”
Eight out of eleven districts in Meghalaya are reporting a positivity rate of more than ten per cent.
Further analysis highlighted the critical areas of concern with regards to cases, deaths and testing & positivity.
Bhushan pointed out that the districts of East Garo Hills, East Khasi Hills, North Garo Hills, Ri Bhoi, West Garo Hills, West Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills have reported more than 100 new cases in the week ending July 4, with East Khasi Hills reporting 1176 cases.
“Ri Bhoi is showing a staggering increase of 141 per cent in weekly new cases over (the) past four weeks,” the Union Health Secretary added.
As far as deaths are concerned, Meghalaya has a low Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of 1.4 per cent; however, continuous monitoring of daily new deaths needs to be done.
It was informed that East Khasi Hills recorded 26 deaths from June 28 to July 4, showing a 53 per cent increase in the number of weekly deaths recorded in the last week.
Testing & Positivity
Analysis has shown that East Garo Hills recorded a 28 per cent positivity rate, South Garo Hills with 20 per cent, Ri Bhoi at 33 per cent and West Garo Hills at 11 per cent.
“These four districts have a high positivity of more than 10 per cent in the week of June 28 to July 4, out of which East Garo Hills and South Garo Hills have shown an increase in the positivity when compared to (the) previous week,” read the letter.
Furthermore, eight districts, that have more than 100 cases in the last week, have reported a positivity rate of above 10 per cent.
Given the current situation, the Union Health Ministry has suggested the state government put in strict containment measures, ramp up testing, healthcare infrastructure planning, effective clinical management, ramping up vaccination, and COVID Appropriate Behaviour.
The Ministry has requested the State to share the action taken so far as per the directions issued under the Disaster Management Act by the Ministry of Home Affairs to ensure effective containment.
“There is an urgent need to strengthen our collective efforts to curb the spread of infection,” Bhushan said while expressing hope that the State would be able to manage COVID-19 effectively.
(Edited by Ibankyntiew Mawrie)
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