Almost two in every three cases of Covid-19 in East Khasi Hills are to be found in urban areas, data from the Deputy Commissioner revealed today.
Over the last three weeks the positivity rate (the number of positive Covid results per 100 tests) has dropped from 14.5 percent to 11.23 percent while the number of tests conducted has stayed level at around 7,900 per week.
However, the DC, Isawanda Laloo, warned that while certain relaxations of coronavirus-induced restrictions have been made, any sharp increase in the caseload in the district will prompt a return to stricter measures.
She reiterated the need for vaccination as it has been seen that “most cases brought to hospital and the majority of death cases” are among the unvaccinated.
Any locality or village having more than five cases will require active surveillance to be carried out, with localities having more than 10 cases to be given special attention.
In such localities, active surveillance for symptomatic persons must be carried out through door-to-door visits. All direct contacts of positive cases must be traced and tested. “Refusal of high-risk contacts to test may lead to their asymptomatic carriers roaming freely and more transmission occurring in the population,” Laloo said.
Random testing is to be organised in localities having between five to nine cases and more than 10 cases.
“Determining numbers of infected persons in such clusters helps detect silent carriers, contributes to better monitoring and surveillance, and gives an understanding of the extent of disease transmission,” she added.
