The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare has written to the state government expressing its concern over the high Covid-19 positivity rate in Meghalaya.
“Meghalaya is still reporting a weekly positivity of 14.05 percent (from June 28 to July 4). About eight out of 11 districts are reporting a positivity of more than 10 percent, which is a cause of concern,” Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary in the Ministry of Health stated in a letter to Meghalaya Chief Secretary MS Rao.
The Ministry stated that a further analysis has highlighted critical areas of concern wherein the districts of East Garo Hills, East Khasi Hills, North Garo Hills, Ri-Bhoi, West Garo Hills, West Jaintia Hills and West Khasi Hills have reported more than 100 new cases in the week ending July 4, with East Khasi Hills reporting the maximum of 1,176 cases in this period.
“Ri-Bhoi district is showing a staggering increase of 141 percent in weekly new cases over the past four weeks,” the Ministry official said.
Bhushan also stated that Meghalaya has a low case fatality rate of 1.4 percent but continuous monitoring of daily new deaths needs to be carried out.
“East Khasi Hills district recorded 26 deaths (from June 24 to July 4), showing a 53 percent increase in the number of weekly deaths recorded in the last week.
It also stated that four districts (East Garo Hills, South Garo Hills, Ri-Bhoi and West Garo Hills) had a high positivity of more than 10 percent in the week to July 4, out of which East Garo and South Garo have shown an increase in the positivity compared to the previous week.
Six districts that reported more than 100 cases in the last week have also reported positivity above 10 percent.
The Ministry stated that to not let the situation slip out of control, Meghalaya should take up strict containment measures and ramp up testing.
“The state should aim at maintaining a positivity rate below five percent in each district, duly focusing on increasing the number of tests to aid early identification,” Bhushan said, adding that Meghalaya should also focus on healthcare infrastructure planning to ensure preparedness.
“State must maintain continuous vigil regarding bed occupancy of critical beds (oxygen supported and ICU beds) and if the occupancy is more than 40 percent for any bed category, the states should plan for augmentation of healthcare infrastructure in those districts,” it stated.
The Ministry also said that there is a need to ramp up vaccination of all citizens and those aged 18 above should be undertaken on a priority basis.
