NEW DELHI, July 18 - At least nine districts in Assam are testing lower than national average, while high positive cases was noted in Dima Hasao and Kamrup Metro districts, the Centre has notified the State government.
In a letter to the Principal Secretary (Health and Family Welfare) Assam, Joint Secretary Ministry of Health Luv Agarwal said Assam is reporting approximately 600 cases every day. About 80 pc of current active caseload is reported in last 14 days, with Kamrup Metro reporting more than 50 per cent of State�s active caseload. Nine districts, including Nagaon, Goalpara, Karbi Anglong, Nalbari, and Sivasagar, are testing lower than India�s average. High case of positivity is noted in Dima Hasao and Kamrup Metro, the letter said.
With Assam, Bihar, West Bengal, and Odisha reporting high number of COVID-19 cases, the Union health ministry has asked these States to make renewed efforts to contain transmission of the virus and keep case fatality rate below one per cent.
In a letter to Principal Secretaries (Health) and Secretary (Health) of these States, the Joint Secretary asked them to ensure that at least 80 per cent of the new cases have their close contacts traced and are in quarantine within 72 hours of case confirmation. The letter underlined that containment and buffer zones should be suitably delineated based on the mapping of cases and contacts, and a list of NCC volunteers along with other workforce is available on COVID warriors� portal which can be optimally utilised in containment and surveillance effort.
�In terms of testing, the State should aim to achieve a minimum of 14 tests per one lakh (140 tests per million) per day, while ensuring a positivity rate of less than 10 per cent,� the letter to the States read.
