Elderly woman dies of Covid in Mizoram, first death since October last year

AIZAWL: With the death of a 63-year-old woman, a resident of Aizawl on Monday, Mizoram had its first Covid-related death since October 29 last year, integrated disease surveillance programme officials said on Tuesday.
The officials said the patient had comorbidities, including critical and terminal illness.
Of the 122 samples tested, 34 people were found to be infected with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours taking the total active case to 78 till Tuesday, the officials said. They said 342 samples were tested in April, out of which 82 were found to be infected and 34 infected people have been discharged.
A high majority of those infected had symptoms without any travel history and were infected locally, the officials said, adding that many of them were below 15 years of age.
After receipt of the results of genome sequencing, the XBB.1.16.1, XBB.1.16 and XBB.1.9.1 variants of Omicron were mainly found in those infected in April. They said XBB.1.16.1 and XBB.1.16 variants are relatively new and more contagious. The two variants are different from other variants and can infect lower respiratory tract, they said.
A meeting on the Covid-19 situation by state health department was held in Aizawl, chaired by health minister Dr R Lalthangliana when the preparedness on possible surge in coronavirus infections was discussed.
It was reported in the meeting that National Health Mission has made preparations for purchase on RT-PCR test kits and expensive drugs for treatment of highly critical Covid-19 patients.