AGARTALA, Sept 5 - Six more COVID-19 patients died and 691 new positive cases were reported in Tripura during the last 24 hours. With the latest casualties, the COVID-19 death toll has shot up to 134 in the State. Tripura has currently 5,195 active cases and most of the patients are under home isolation.
The Agartala Municipal Corporation (AMC) areas and West Tripura district have remained the COVID-19 hotspots in the State as out of the 691 new cases detected on Friday, the West district alone accounted for 304. Among the other districts, North got 86 cases, followed by Sepahijala (64) and Dhalai (61).
Meanwhile, Education Minister Ratan Lal Nath today expressed concern over the growing number of deaths and infections, especially in the AMC areas. �The Government has already requested the Centre to send an expert team to the State and suggest measures to check the pandemic,� he told media persons at the Civil Secretariat here. Nath said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare is expected to send a team within the next few days.
�To check the deaths and infections, the State Cabinet has decided to go for a weekend curfew, but the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has not given its consent. But if the situation remains grim, there will be a weekend curfew to break the transmission chain,� Nath said.
However, the minister claimed the overall COVID-19 situation in the State is better in comparison to the national stage. �While the national positivity rate is 8.47 per cent, it is 4.72 per cent in Tripura. The fatality rate is not even one per cent in the State, but it is 1.75 per cent in the country. The State is also better placed in conducting COVID-19 tests with 71,012 per million against the national average of 32,978 per million,� he said.
In another development, former MLA Sudip Roy Barman blamed lack of coordination between the Government and the State Health Department for the growing deaths and infections. �Only four senior doctors are manning the dedicated COVID treatment centre at the GB Pant Hospital where over 200 patients are admitted, most of them critically ill. Other senior doctors have refused to perform COVID-19 duties as they have already crossed 60 years of age,� he said.
This is the time for the Government to bring in young doctors posted in district and subdivisional hospitals to the GB Pant Hospital to handle the current situation, Roy Barman said, adding that the State would suffer if remedial measures are not taken immediately.
