Udhagamandalam: The number of active Covid-19 cases in the Nilgiris has increased fourfold in the past 30 days to 266 on Thursday, from 61 on March 15.
District collector J Innocent Divya said the Nilgiris too had been witnessing a surge in Covid-19 cases, and the main contributors were the people with a travel history to neighbouring districts.
The district logged 39 new cases on the day, taking the tally to 9,065, of which 8,748 have recovered from the infection so far. Presently, there are seven containment zones in the district.
The positivity rate in the Nilgiris, which has done 3, 92,742 Covid tests, stands at 3%. On an average, 1,250 people are subjected to testing a day. As far as vaccination drive is concerned, 98,144 people have been inoculated till date.
According to Divya, while people aged above 45 years constitute 1/3 (2.5 lakh) of the population in the district, only 55,000 of them have taken vaccination so far.
The collector had inspected Ooty market and Uzhavar Sandhai on Wednesday. “We found many of the traders aged above 45 years are yet to be inoculated. We have requested them to come forward to get vaccinated, as it will help break the chain of virus transmission.”
She said they were well positioned to provide treatment for the positive patients. “We have identified Covid care centres for asymptomatic patients in Ooty, Coonoor, Kotagiri, Gudalur and Pandalur towns. Tourism activities are regulated as per the government norms. E-registration to enter the district will continue,” the collector said.