NEW DELHI, Feb 3: The Northeastern states affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, albeit relatively late, have fared better than many other states of the country, both in terms of recording higher recovery rates and lower mortality rates, or against the national average.
With a recovery rate of 99.61 per cent, Arunachal Pradesh topped among 28 states across the country in terms of COVID-19 recoveries.
Besides Arunachal Pradesh, four other states – Odisha (99.13 per cent), Bihar (99.09 per cent), Mizoram (99.09 per cent) and Andhra Pradesh (99.05 per cent) – have a recovery rate of above 99 per cent against the national average of 97.05 per cent.
Six other Northeastern states – Nagaland (98.83 per cent), Tripura (98.78 per cent), Assam (98.66 per cent), Meghalaya (98.49 per cent), Manipur (98.25 per cent) and Sikkim (96.44 per cent) – exceeded the national recovery rate, data released by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Tuesday, revealed.
Another Northeastern state, Mizoram, which was least affected, has earned the distinction of having the lowest death rate of 0.21 per cent among the 28 states in India.
According to the Health Ministry data, the mortality rate in six other Northeastern states – Manipur (1.28 per cent), Tripura (1.17 per cent), Meghalaya (1.06 per cent), Assam (0.50 per cent), Nagaland (0.73 per cent) and Arunachal Pradesh (0.33 per cent) – are also lower than the national average.
Punjab recorded the highest COVID mortality rate at 3.24 per cent against the national fatality rate of 1.43 per cent, the data showed.
Surprisingly, Sikkim’s fatality rate of 2.22 per cent is the third highest in the country after Maharashtra’s 2.52 per cent. The former Himalayan kingdom was the last to be affected by the pandemic and remained COVID-19 free for quite some time.
The first death in Assam, as well as in the Northeastern region, was reported from Hailakandi district in southern Assam on April 10, 2020.
A middle-aged man, who had visited abroad, succumbed to COVID-19 at 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. A 62-year-old man died of the virus in the hill state even as the first death was reported in India on January 30 last year.
Several theories were floated about the Northeastern states becoming least prone to the novel pandemic. But remoteness of the landlocked region, and strict measures by the state governments, did bring better results, health officials admit.
