E-Paper
Four eastern states emerge as worries in anti-Covid battle
West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Bihar have shown high case positivity rates despite low levels of testing, and the emergence of new virus clusters and several new cases within containment zones have underlined gaps in containment strategy.
Four states in eastern India have emerged as the biggest concerns for the Narendra Modi government in tackling the Covid-19 crisis.
West Bengal, Odisha, Assam and Bihar have shown high case positivity rates despite low levels of testing, and the emergence of new virus clusters and several new cases within containment zones have underlined gaps in containment strategy.
According to senior government officials, West Bengal has recorded an average of 1,600 new cases a day in the last two weeks and the count for the last five days alone constitute 90% of all active cases in the state.
In the same period, Bihar has recorded an average of 450 cases a day, and 80% of its total active cases have come over the past week. Patna, Nalanda, Bhalagpur, Begusarai, Munger and Gaya are among the districts reporting a large number of cases. In Assam, 80% of all active cases have been recorded in the last 14 days while Odisha has reported an average of 500 cases for the past four weeks now.
The coastal state’s Ganjam district — home to chief minister Naveen Patnaik’s constituency Hinjili — accounts for 37% of all virus cases in Odisha.
While all four states have a lower death rate than the national average, officials feel the four states need to do much more.
These four states have been asked to plan better containment and surveillance strategy, among other things. “We asked them to check the source of such high numbers. If a substantial number of cases are recorded from containment areas, then you have to change containment strategy,” a government official said.
