Rising positivity rate in Himachal’s 4 districts a worry

Shimla, May 13

A high positivity rate of 26.3 per cent in Himachal has placed the state’s health services under a tremendous strain. The positivity and fatality rate has been on the rise for the past one week with 66 deaths recorded on Wednesday and 63 on Thursday. The count is too high for a small state like HP.

The state saw a jump of 6 per cent in positivity rate within a week. The fatality rate stands at 1.42. The active cases have touched a record 40,000 while the total cases since the outbreak of the pandemic have crossed the 1.50 lakh mark.

Weddings and Kumbh returnees have proved to be super-spreaders. Even though the state government claims to produce more oxygen than is required, families who have lost their dear ones blame non-availability of the life-saving gas for the deaths. Alarmingly, the positivity rate has crossed 30 per cent in four districts — Sirmaur (38.4%), Shimla (34.10%), Solan (31.10%) and Mandi (30.60%).

Even though the government has imposed a Covid curfew, the damage has already been done. The recent decision of the government to restrict the number of invitees to weddings to 20 has come rather late.

Kangra has been the worst-hit, reporting 1,277 new cases and 15 deaths on Thursday. Managing the swelling number of patients requiring hospitalisation has become a daunting task for the district administration. — TNS