Mizoram's Covid tally crosses 1K-mark, Tripura's 10K

Agartala/Aizawl/Guwahati, Aug 29 (IANS) As the deadly coronavirus continued to spread across the northeast, Mizoram on Friday became the latest state in the region to see its tally cross the 1,000 case mark, while Tripura surpassed the 10,000-mark.

Mizoram, however, is the only state in India where there is no death reported so far due to the contagious virus.

According to Mizoram Health and Family Welfare Department officials, with 29 more cases detected in the past 24 hours, the tally went up to 1,003 while 514 people have recovered from the disease.

Of the 1,003 Covid-19 positive cases, including 175 women, 33.33 per cent belong to Central Para-Military Forces and the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF).

After Assam, Tripura with 10,417 Covid-19 positive cases become the second most affected state among the eight northeastern states. With 93 deaths due to the coronavirus, Tripura's mortality rate is 0.89 per cent against Assam's 0.28 per cent.

In Tripura, 7,037 people recovered from the disease while there 3,284 active cases as on Friday night.

National Health Mission (NHM) officials in Assam said that so far 98,807 people tested positive for the virus and 286 among them died. Of the total cases, 19,211 are active, 79,307 people have recovered and three migrated out of the state.

NHM officials also said that the number of recovered patients in Assam is 3.8 times the number of active patients. The state's recovery rate is 80.26 per cent.

Meanwhile, with rising coronavirus cases, lockdown was re-imposed in Barak Valley region in southern Assam comprising three districts - Cachar, Hailakandi and Karimganj - from August 27 to September 4.

The Barak Valley region, the gateway to Tripura, Mizoram and western Manipur, would also remain in lockdown on September 5 and 6, as Assam observes a weekend (Saturday and Sunday) lockdown.

In Shillong, Meghalaya Chief Minister Conrad K. Sangma said that it was decided to re-open several important tourist spots including Ward's Lake, Lum Nehru Park and Elephant Falls from September 1 for local tourism in accordance with health protocols and standard operating procedures laid down by the government.

Meghalaya so far registered 2,202 Covid-19 positive cases. The hill state has 1,272 active cases and nine patients have succumbed to the infection so far.

In Imphal, Manipur Health and Family Welfare Department's Additional Director Khoirom Sasheekumar Mangang said that the state so far registered 5,843 positive cases, including 1,511 belonging to Central Para-Military Forces. So far, 27 people have died.

Covid-19 cases are also rapidly rising in the three remaining northeastern states - Nagaland (3,784 cases, nine deaths), Arunachal Pradesh (3,633 cases, five deaths) and Sikkim (1,542 cases, three deaths).