Eastern Mirror Desk
Dimapur, Sep. 19 (EMN): The highest number of positive cases among traced contacts in Nagaland is in the age group of 21-30 years (32%) and 31-40 years (35%), ‘a very mobile or active age group and largely asymptomatic, who could be unaware of their status and spread the virus,’ the department of Health and Family Welfare stated in its weekly bulletin on Saturday.
It added that 17% of the positive traced contacts are students.
Government employees (32%) and household contacts (35%) constitute 67% of all positive traced contacts, which implies that most infections happen at workplaces and among household contacts, it informed.
The current death rate of 0.19% is lower than that of the country but mortality could be much higher ‘once the virus infects the high-risk groups,’ it informed. Till now, only 0.3% of positive cases are with comorbidity and only 1% is above 60 years of age.
The department also informed that the prevalence of hypertension among the general population in Nagaland is 38% and diabetes is 5%, as per one ICMR study. About 5.2% of the population is above 60 years of age. There are many other risk factors apart from old age, hypertension and diabetes. The positivity rate has continuously increased in the last four weeks, reaching 12% in the past week.
Complacency appears to have set in after the Unlock-4 with non-adherence to standard safety measures, it informed.
‘We are at a crucial juncture in this fight against the pandemic. The state has relaxed many establishments in the Unlock-4 guidelines only for livelihood sustainability and economic reasons. The threat of the virus is more than ever now. Every individual should strictly follow standard safety protocols to break the chain of transmission. Complacency at this juncture will prove to be very costly. Avoid the three Cs (closed spaces with poor ventilation, crowded places and close contact settings); follow the three Ws (wear mask, watch distance and wash hands),’ it stated.