AIZAWL: Though the COVID-19 positivity rate in Mizoram has reduced to 12.36 per cent from 15.36 per cent in the past two weeks, the State government has announced to continue the 'All Mask Campaign', that was scheduled to end on Wednesday, till October 31, officials said.
A Mizoram health official said that state's Health Minister R. Lalthangliana announced the extension of the campaign at a virtual meeting with the Deputy Commissioners, all Chief Medical Officers and all other concerned officials of all the 11 districts.
Highlighting the importance of continuation of the 'All Mask Campaign', the Health Minister said that the statewide campaign was launched on the advice of the state-level expert team on COVID-19 management, which was formed in September amid the rise in numbers of positive cases and deaths in the state.
The team, led by convener Dr. F. Lallianhlira, had recently submitted 16-point recommendations to the state government, among which an aggressive educational awareness campaign on masks was one of the key advice.
The expert team had also recommended a symptom-based approach in conducting contact tracing and tests in the state, in line with recommendations of WHO, CDC-USA and ICMR. As part of the 'All Mask Campaign', the government has requested all citizens to wear masks in their respective offices, working areas, indoors at all times except while eating meals and not to dine together on a table and have buffet meals instead.
The government also advised people to be more mindful in handwashing and use of sanitizers.
The tiny Northeastern state registered an alarming the COVID-19 positivity rate of 12.36 per cent, — the highest in India — even as a four-member multi disciplinary central team recently visited different parts of the state and gave necessary advice to the government.
According to the health officials, a total of 1,14,466 people have so far tested positive and 393 people succumbed to the disease.
The recovery rate in the mountainous state is 90.49 per cent as against the national average of 98.15 per cent.
However, according to the Union Health Ministry data on Wednesday, against the national average of 1.33 per cent, Mizoram's COVID fatality rate is 0.34 per cent, the lowest among all states in the country.
With only 11 lakh population, bordering Myanmar and Bangladesh, the Northeastern state had 10,768 active cases on Wednesday, while 1,03,305 have been recovered of the infectious disease so far.
The Mizoram health officials said the state for the past more than two months has been undertaking mass testing of people mainly through the Rapid Antigen method and might be due to this, the number of positive cases has gone alarmingly high.
The mass testing is being done in each and every habitat and locality in collaboration with the local task force and health workers. Of the state's 11 districts, Aizawl has registered the highest number of cases at 71,723 besides recording 286 deaths, followed by Lunglei (8,888 cases, 25 deaths), Kolasib (7,559 cases, 27 deaths) and Khawzawl is the only district where no death has been reported though 677 people have tested positive there so far.
The Health officials said that the central team, headed by National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) consultant-epidemiologist, Dr Vinita Gupta, had recently visited the most affected districts and held a series of meetings with the chief medical officers of all the 11 districts on Wednesday. (IANS)
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