North-East States see uptick in COVID Cases

•    Manipur orders closure of schools till July 24 
•    Mask mandate back in Tripura 

Morung Express News
Dimapur | July 12

The North-East States in seeing an uptick in the number of COVID-19 cases with each state registering higher infections in recent days.

In Manipur, the state government, on July 12, issued an order for closure of schools with “immediate effect” as COVID-19 cases rise sharply in the state. On Tuesday, 59 persons tested positive for the virus. 

Gyan Prakash, Commissioner Education Department Manipur  said in an order that there has been a recent increase in an “absolute” number of COVID-19 cases and the test positivity ratio is over 15 per cent, the indianexpress.com reported.  

The order further stated that children below 12 years of age are yet to be vaccinated, thus increasing their vulnerability to COVID-19 significantly, it said.  Accordingly, all schools located in the state were ordered to remain closed till July 24.

As per PTI news agency, Tripura on July 12 registered 112 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, the highest number of infections since July 1, and accordingly,  Chief Minister Manik Saha exhorted the people to adhere to Covid protocol strictly to prevent coronavirus infection.

The Tripura government on July 11 had made the wearing of mask compulsory for people in public places in view of the spike in Covid cases. 

Assam also recorded 344 more COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, the highest in the last five months, taking the tally to 7, 26,855, PTI reported citing the National Health Mission.

In Sikkim, there were 69 new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, taking the caseload to 39,537. 

Meanwhile, Mizoram also reported 120 new cases on July 12, 31 more than the previous day, and the total caseload in the state increased to 2,29,982.

In Meghalaya, 18 new cases were reported taking the total active cases to 115, and overall tally to 94,146.

Nagaland also recorded five new COVID-19 cases on Tuesday, one more than the previous day, taking 34 active cases to 34 and overall tally to 35,555.