Arunachal reports its highest single-day COVID cases at 566, positivity rate at 9.21%

Arunachal Pradesh on Tuesday reported its highest single-day spike of 566 new COVID-19 cases, a senior health official said.

The earlier single-day record was 497 cases, registered on May 29, he said.

The new cases were detected after testing 6,140 samples. The positivity rate stood at 9.21 percent.

Arunachal Pradesh also recorded two fatalities, taking the toll to 191, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

A 50-year-old woman from the Capital Complex region died at the Dedicated Covid Hospital at Chimpu on Sunday, while a 63-year-old woman from the Lohit district died at a health facility in Tezu on Monday, he said.

Both of them died of acute respiratory distress syndrome with COVID pneumonia, he added.

The state government is taking several measures to contain the spread of the virus, Chief Secretary Naresh Kumar said.

''The government has been following three strategies to stop the spread of the virus -- extensive tracking and testing, enforcement of Covid-appropriate behavior and vaccination drive,'' he said.

Kumar said any person entering Arunachal Pradesh needs to be vaccinated.

There are two RT-CPR testing units in the state and every district has TrueNat machines, he said.

The state has so far recorded 40,383 cases.

The Capital Complex Region recorded the highest number of new cases at 138, followed by West Kameng (76), Lohit (39), Papumpare (34) and West Siang (31).

Of the new cases, 546 were detected through rapid antigen tests, 16 through RT-PCR, and four by TrueNat methods, the official said.

There are 3,918 active cases in the Northeastern state at present, he said.

In all, 364 patients recovered on Monday, taking the total recoveries to 36,274, he said.

The recovery rate in the state is 89.82 percent at present.

So far, 6,03,563 persons (57 percent of the population) got the first dose of the vaccine in the state. Of them, 1,19,820 (11 percent of the population) received the second shot, State Immunisation Officer Dr. Dimong Padung said.