Assam districts log more positive cases than capital

GUWAHATI: Some of the Assam districts are reflecting the ongoing surge in Covid cases, where the daily number of positive cases overtook the count of capital Guwahati on Monday.
The Covid bulletin issued by Assam NHM for Monday said out of the 344 fresh Covid cases detected in the day, Dibrugarh reported highest 58 cases, followed by 49 cases in Kamrup district. Kamrup (Metro) district, under which falls the Guwahati city, reported 43 new cases. After conducting 2,970 tests across the state, the positivity rate stood at 11.58%, higher than 10.24% reported on Sunday after 840 tests.
“The total case number in some districts has increased because we have increased the number of tests in every district. A sudden rise in cases may be detected in the districts. Contact tracing is being done aggressively, covering more people who have come in touch with the infected cases,” executive director at Assam NHM, Manoj Choudhury, said.
He said the rise in Covid cases in Dibrugarh may be linked with better connectivity of the Upper Assam district. “Dibrugarh is well connected with flights from different parts of the country. So, cases may go up with more testing,” Choudhury added.
He said the health department has set district-wise targets to conduct Covid tests. In the absence of mandatory testing, Choudhury said suspected positive cases are being traced mainly in the hospitals and more emphasis being given on contact tracing.
“People are not giving importance to Covid testing even after requests by the health staff in many cases,” Choudhury said, adding that low hospitalisation is the reason behind the reluctance. He said despite a rise in daily cases, hospitalisation has been about 5%.
There has been a steady rise in active cases, which went up to 1,858 on Monday night. The state health department has resorted to contact tracing more aggressively for the first time in months as the virus spread continues with over 10% positivity rate even after increased testing.
In the past 10 days (from July 2 to 11), the highest 742 cases have been detected in Kamrup (Metro), followed by 243 in Kamrup and 187 in Dibrugarh.