91 new COVID-19 cases in Arunachal Pradesh; tally rises to 1,330

Itanagar, July 29 (PTI): Ninety-one people, including 19 security personnel have tested positive for COVID-19 in Arunachal Pradesh, taking the northeastern state''s caseload to 1,330 on Wednesday, a senior health department official said.

Of the total cases, 710 are active as 617 people have recovered from the disease and three have died, state Surveillance Officer L Jampa said.

The Capital Complex region reported 28 cases, followed by Changlang district (18), East Kameng (10), Tirap (8), Upper Siang (6), West Kameng (5), Lohit (4), East Siang (3), two each in West Siang, Namsai and Lower Dibang Valley districts and one each in Lower Siang, Leparada and Tawang district respectively, Jampa said.

All the fresh infections in the Capital Complex region were detected during rapid antigen tests. Of the 18 new cases reported from Changlang district, 10 were detected from Rankatu Tea Estate at Bordumsa, two were Assam Rifles personnel who have recently returned from Manipur and rest are civilians, he said.

Of the 10 fresh cases in East Kameng district, six were detected at Seppa, the district headquarters town while four were returnees from Tawang and were detected at quarantine centres, Jampa said.

In Tirap district, out of the eight infected people, five are Assam Rifles jawans and three are Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.

All the six fresh cases reported from Upper Siang district are Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP) personnel detected from quarantine centre, while the five cases of West Kameng are returnees from Assam, Jampa said.

One ITBP personnel infected with the virus was also detected from Leparada district, he said.

The four fresh cases from Lohit district are members of the same family who have returned to the district from West Bengal, while the three cases in East Siang district are essential commodities drivers detected in the check gate through RDT-Antigen tests, he said.

The two new cases from Lower Dibang Valley and one fresh case from Tawang are Border Roads Task Force (BRTF) personnel who have returned from outside and kept at quarantine facilities, Jampa said, adding that the two new cases in Namsai district are police personnel.

The lone case detected in Lower Siang district, had returned from Karnataka and detected at quarantine centre, he said.

Barring two all the cases are asymptomatic and shifted to Covid care centres, he added.

Forty-three people, including 16 from the Capital Complex region, have recovered from COVID-19 and were discharged from hospitals on Tuesday, Jampa said.

Arunachal Pradesh witnessed a spurt in coronavirus cases after the residents of the state started returning from other parts of the country.

The state has recently registered a steep rise in the number of COVID-19 cases, with 1,139 people testing positive for the infection since July 1, Jampa said.

Arunachal Pradesh reported its first COVID-19 case on April 2 and the person recovered from the disease on April 16. The state registered its second case on May 24.

The Capital Complex region, comprising Itanagar, Naharlagun, Banderdewa and Nirjuli areas, has the highest number of active COVID-19 cases at 353, followed by Papum Pare (54), Changlang (51), Namsai (38), Tirap (36), East Siang (33) and Tawang (27), the official said.

The recovery rate among the COVID-19 patients in Arunachal Pradesh is 35 per cent and 68,034 samples have been tested for the disease in the state so far, Jampa added.