Mizoram: Elderly Woman Dies Of Covid, The First Since October Last Year

AIZAWL: A 63-year-old woman, a resident of Aizawl, died of Covid on Monday. With the death of this woman, Mizoram had its first Covid-related death since October 29 last year, according to integrated disease surveillance programme officials on Tuesday.

It was pointed out by the officials that the patient had comorbidities, which included critical and terminal illness.

The officials also said that, out of the 122 samples tested, 34 people were found to be infected with Covid-19 in the last 24 hours, taking the total active cases to 78 till Tuesday. In April, 82 out of 342 samples tested were found to be infected, with 34 infected people having been discharged, they said.

A majority of those infected by Covid did not have any travel history and were infected locally and many of them were below 15 years of age, the officials further said.

The XBB.1.16.1, XBB.1.16 and XBB.1.9.1 variants of Omicron were mainly found in those infected in April after receipt of the results of genome sequencing. They also informed that XBB.1.16.1 and XBB.1.16 variants are relatively new and more contagious. The two variants are more infectious and different from other variants, which can infect lower respiratory tract, they said.

Mizoram health minister Dr R Lalthangliana chaired a meeting on the Covid-19 situation organised by state health department in Aizawl, where the preparedness on possible surge in coronavirus infections was discussed and a battle plan mapped out.

In the meeting, it was informed that the National Health Mission has made preparations for purchase on RT-PCR test kits and expensive drugs for treatment of highly critical Covid-19 patients, it was reported.

The COVID's latest variant, a sub variant of its highly transmissible variant Omicron, is the new headache for all.

The latest sub variant of XBB 1.16. has been nicknamed as Arcturus by social media users, though no official naming has been done for this.

Arcturus is driving a huge number of COVID cases in India, and other countries like the US and Australia.

The Indian government has alerted all the state governments to be prepared for COVID cases. Mock drills have been held in hospitals to ensure they are prepared to face a crisis, if any arises.

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