SHILLONG, May 30: For the third straight day, the recoveries on Sunday bettered the number of new cases indicating a possible waning of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic in Meghalaya. However, the positivity rate in the state continues to be around four per cent higher than the national average.
With 974 recoveries on Sunday, the total number of people cured/discharged has risen to 27,130.
Despite 742 fresh cases detected in the state on Sunday, the active tally has come down to 7,496.
316 fresh cases were detected in East Khasi Hills, 84 in West Garo Hills, 80 in South West Khasi Hills, 65 in Ri Bhoi, 62 in West Jaintia Hills, 47 in South West Garo Hills, 35 in East Jaintia Hills., 20 in North Garo Hills, 12 each in West Khasi Hills and East Garo Hills and nine in South Garo Hills.
East Khasi Hills led the recovery chart with 530 people declared cured, followed by 172 in West Jaintia Hills, 88 in West Garo Hills, 46 in South West Garo Hills, 41 in West Khasi Hills, 23 in South Garo Hills, 19 in East Garo Hills, 17 in East Jaintia Hills, 15 in Ri Bhoi, 14 in North Garo Hills and nine in South West Khasi Hills.
The death toll, however, continues to climb in the state. With 13 fatalities in the last 24 hours, the death toll has shot up to 564. 10 fatalities were recorded in East Khasi Hills while one death each was reported in Ri Bhoi, West Garo Hills and West Jaintia Hills.
Since the beginning of the pandemic last year, Meghalaya has recorded 35,190 confirmed case of COVID-19 out of which 27,130 have recovered so far.
Positivity rate over 20% in EKH
In spite of the large number of recoveries in the last three days, the positivity rate in East Khasi Hills remains the highest in the state. The rate has jumped to 21.57 in the district in the last seven days.
Out of 11,582 tests conducted in the last seven days, 2,498 results have been confirmed as positive in the district.
In West Jaintia Hills the positivity rate stands at 17.37. Out of 2,239 people tested, 389 were confirmed positive. 543 confirmed cases out of 4028 tests in Ri Bhoi puts the positivity rate at 13.48.
The rate is 10.44 in South West Khasi Hills (217 positive out of 2078 tests) and 11.1 in West Garo Hills (470 out of 41,236 tests).
West Khasi Hills has the lowest positivity rate in the state at 4.46. Out of 3,093 tests conducted in the last seven days, 138 have been confirmed as positive.
Overall, Meghalaya has recorded a positivity rate of 13.92 with 4994 persons confirmed positive out of 35,884 tests. This is much higher than the national positivity rate which has been below 10 for the sixth straight day on Sunday.
Cases spike in Raj Bhavan
The second wave of COVID-19 is taking its toll on the Raj Bhavan with active cases rising on a regular basis.
A statement from Raj Bhavan said that on May 28 there was mass testing of high-risk contacts of COVID-19 positive cases and results declared on Saturday confirmed 25 persons to be positive. There were 18 positive cases on May 24.
The total number of positive cases now stands at 43 which include ten children below the age of 15 years and three persons with co-morbidities.
The statement added that most of the positive patients are personal staff working in the main building and in the service of Governor Satya Pal Malik.
