With 154 new cases, State’s tally jumps to 3322
Dimapur, August 14: Even as the State Government continues to maintain that there is no community spread of COVID-19 in Nagaland, the number of traced contacts testing positive has alarmed citizens, particularly in Kohima, that something is amiss with the claim.
On Thursday, both the Chief Minister and Health Minister had even affirmed in the State assembly that there is no community spread of COVID-19 in the State.
“So far there are no cases where we cannot trace the source and hence the Health Department is of the view that there is no community transmission in Nagaland,” the CM stated.
“As history of contact has been established in all cases, there is no community transmission in the State,” reaffirmed State health minister in the assembly.
But as the number of traced contacts testing positive is on the rise, there are genuine fear among citizens in the State capital that Kohima is already pass the local transmission stage and has entered community transmission.
The State health authorities’ view that there is no community transmission in the State appears reasonable on the premise that “there are no cases where we cannot trace the source,” but it cannot be overlooked that Nagaland so far is testing only know contacts of positive cases and hence “history of contact has been established in all cases.”
On Friday, Nagaland reported 154 new cases of COVID-19, out of which 86 were traced contacts (Kohima – 57, Dimapur – 18, Zunheboto – 10 & Mon – 1). Each of this 86 traced contacts testing positive might have had close contact with others (primary contacts), who in turn will have contact with others and so on. The State health authorities will also diligently go for active contact tracing of the 86 and establish “history of contact.” The danger, however, lies in some contacts escaping the contact tracing net.
So far, 13% (433 cases) of all positive cases in the State are traced contacts.
Meanwhile with the 154 new cases today, the total COVID cases in the State have climbed to 3322. But with 1198 recoveries and 8 deaths, the number of total active cases is 2110.
The 154 new cases were detected from 831 samples tested.
Out of the 154 new cases, 84 were detected in Kohima (Traced Contacts – 57, Returnees – 26, Armed Forces – 1), 58 in Dimapur (Armed Forces – 19, Traced Contacts – 18, Returnees – 14, Frontline workers – 7), 10 in Zunheboto (Traced Contacts – 10), one in Mon (Traced Contacts – 1) and one in Wokha (Armed Forces – 1).
As per the severity of symptoms, 2106 active cases are asymptomatic, 3 cases are moderate and one case is mild. The positive persons are receiving medical care at the designated COVID-19 Hospitals and COVID-19 Care Centres. Further, active surveillance and contact tracing is also in progress to prevent further spreading of the infection.
Out of the 3322 total COVID-19 cases in the State, 1468 (44%) are from the Armed Forces; 1157 (35%) are returnees; 433 (13%) are traced contacts; 210 (6%) are frontline workers and others (cases related to NLA, Raj Bhavan, patients excluding returnees) – 54 (2%).
(Page News Service)
