Record 329 new cases push Arunachal's COVID-19 tally to 9,332

Itanagar, September 29

Arunachal Pradesh registered its highest single-day spike in COVID-19 cases on Tuesday as 329 more people tested positive for the infection, a senior health official said.

A 55-year-old divisional forest officer succumbed to the infection, taking the northeastern state’s coronavirus death toll to 15, he said.

The new patients, including 11 security personnel and a health worker, have pushed the state’s caseload to 9,332, he said.

The state had registered its previous highest single-day spike of 289 coronavirus cases on September 24.

“The DFO, who was suffering from liver cancer, died due to shock following upper gastrointestinal bleeding. He was admitted to a hospital on September 27 and had tested positive for COVID-19,” State Surveillance Officer, Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

Nine Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel and three Army men are among the new patients, he said.

Four prisoners in West Siang district and a health worker in Lower Subansiri also contracted the disease, he said.

The Capital Complex region reported the highest number of new cases at 117, followed by Papumpare (86), West Siang (24) and Lower Siang (21), the official said.

As many as 97 more people were cured of the disease and discharged from hospitals, taking the recovery rate among COVID-19 patients in the state to 70.63 per cent, he said.

Arunachal Pradesh now has 2,725 active coronavirus cases, while 6,592 people have been cured of the disease so far, the official said.

The Capital Complex region, comprising Itanagar, Naharlagun, Nirjuli and Banderdewa areas, has the highest number of active coronavirus cases at 1,446, followed by Papumpare (221), West Siang (145), Changlang (130) and East Siang (100), he said.

A total of 2,42,948 samples have been tested for COVID-19 so far, including 3,048 on Monday, Jampa added. PTI