Himachal Pradesh infection rate tops 17 worst-hit states, R-Value rising

CHANDIGARH: The hill state of Himachal Pradesh tops the list of 17 states in the country seeing a rising trend in spread of infection -- rate at or higher than the crucial threshold of 1 -- leaving the central government worried. Of these worst-hit states, the R-value too is climbing in eight states.
After the easing of relaxations from the first week of July, the spread of the virus has picked up pace.

The state’s R-Value at 1.4 is much higher than the worst-affected states like Kerala, Maharashtra, West Bengal, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka.
The upward trend in the R-value clubbed with the presence of highly infectious variants of concern (VOCs) is a big worry for the health authorities in the resource-constrained state. Himachal accounts for 1.2% of total samples tested positive for different variants of virus in the country.
Different variants of Alpha, Beta and Delta lineages of the virus have been found in 578 samples examined by National Centre for Disease Control and CSIR-Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology for whole genome sequencing.
The Delta variant, that is said to be up to 50% more transmissible than other lineages of Covid, has been detected in 78 samples. If not contained, it spreads at a faster pace, resulting in an increase in hospitalisation and fatality.
The state also has one district having a case positivity rate of over 10%, double than the 5% limit of positivity rate recommended by the World Health Organisation.
The number of active cases in Himachal Pradesh has further increased to 1,304, with Mandi (294), Chamba (263), Kangra (205) and Shimla (197) contributing bulk of these. The weekly test positivity rate too has also jumped to 1.4% compared to a positivity rate of 0.1% in neighbouring states of Punjab and Haryana.
Voicing concern over the state oF affairs in HP, Joint secretary, ministry of health, Lav Agarwal called for a need for better containment and management for tackling the situation. He urged the state government to focus on basic principles of management, which include testing, contract tracing, isolation, treatment and containment zones.
Expressing displeasure over states recording increased R-values, Dr VK Paul of NITI Aayog said these states need to take corrective steps.
Haryana is another state where the value has been recorded at 1. However, the situation is said to be stable at the moment.
Students maintain social distancing and wear face masks while attending a class at Portmore girls school in Shimla