Shillong, Feb 3: With a recovery rate of 99.61 percent, Arunachal Pradesh has topped among 28 states across the country in terms of Covid-19 recoveries.
According to the data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday, besides Arunachal Pradesh, four other states — Odisha (99.13 percent), Bihar (99.09 percent), Mizoram (99.09 percent), and Andhra Pradesh (99.05 percent) — have a recovery rate of above 99 percent against the national average of 97.05 percent.
According to the health officials, six other northeastern states – Nagaland (98.83 percent), Tripura (98.78 percent), Assam (98.66 percent), Meghalaya (98.49 percent), Manipur (98.25 percent) and Sikkim (96.44 percent) – also exceeded national recovery rate.
Another northeastern state Mizoram has earned the distinction of having the lowest death rate of 0.21 percent among the 28 states in India while Punjab remained in the top position in Covid-19 mortality at 3.24 percent against the national fatality rate of 1.43 percent.
Sikkim’s fatality rate of 2.22 percent is the third-highest in the country after Maharashtra’s 2.52 percent.
According to the Health and Family Welfare Ministry data, the mortality rate in six other northeastern states – Manipur (1.28 percent), Tripura (1.17 percent), Meghalaya (1.06 percent), Assam (0.50 percent), Nagaland (0.73 percent) and Arunachal Pradesh (0.33 percent) – are lower than the national average.
According to the officials of the Health and Family Welfare Department of Assam, the state had reported its first death due to coronavirus on April 10. The first death in Assam, as well as in the northeastern region, was reported from Hailakandi district in southern Assam where a middle-aged man, who had visited abroad, succumbed to Covid-19 at the Silchar Medical College and Hospital.
Mizoram was the lone state in India where there was no Covid-19 related death until October 28 last year when a 62-year-old man died of Covid-19 in the mountainous state even as the first death was reported in India on January 30, 2020.
The nationwide immunization drive began across the country on January 16 after the approval of two Covid vaccines — Covishield and Covaxin, which have been cleared for emergency use by the authorities.
Hyderabad-based Bharat Biotech is the manufacturer of India’s first indigenous vaccine for Covid-19 – Covaxin – while Covishield has been developed by Oxford University and pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and manufactured by the Serum Institute of India in Pune. Over 39,50,000 people, mostly health workers, vaccinated so far.
