Gangtok, June 28: With an average positivity rate of 15.6 percent for the week that ended on June 27, the Himalayan state of Sikkim now has the highest positivity rate in the country. The state also grapples with a slow recovery rate when the positivity rate has fallen to single digit in most parts of the country.

This comes at a time when the country is witnessing an overall decline in the Covid cases. Smaller states, perhaps, remain an area of concern with many grappling with high positivity rates and recoveries being rather slow.

During the 1st wave of Covid-19, i.e. from the start of corona cases in 2020 till March 31, 2021, Sikkim had registered over 6200 positive cases with 135 deaths.

But in the last 3 months, Sikkim has registered close to 14,000 cases with 166 deaths, clearly showing that the state has faced more infection in the 2nd wave.

On June 27, when the national positivity rate was 2.91 percent, Sikkim’s positivity rate was 20.8 percent, almost 10 times higher.

In comparison to Sikkim’s average weekly positivity rate of 15.6 percent last week, many smaller states and Union Territories’ weekly average positivity rate was in single digits – Chandigarh had 1.9 percent, Goa – 7.2, Ladakh – 0.7 percent, Mizoram – 9.7, Tripura – 4.7 percent. Only Manipur with 12.7 percent and Meghalaya with 11.7 percent had average weekly positivity rate in double digits.

In terms of recoveries, the current recovery rate is 86 percent but the weekly average of Sikkim is a worrying 77.3 percent, far below the national average of above 95 percent.