The Prime Minister of India will have a virtual meeting with the Chief Ministers of the eight Northeastern states to discuss the Covid-19 situation in the region on Tuesday.
More than three out of every five districts that reported a test positivity rate of more than 10 per cent over the past week are in the Northeast, said reports.
According to the data tracked by the Union Health Ministry, of the 58 districts that reported a positivity rate higher than 10 per cent between July 5 and July 11, as many as 37 were from the Northeast.
While absolute numbers in the Northeast are small compared to the larger Indian states, the overall weekly positivity in India was only 2.21 per cent as of Sunday.
The Health Ministry sent individual letters to the Northeastern states, flagging its concerns on July 6.
During a video conference thereafter, officials including Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan and Union Home Secretary A K Bhalla asked the states to ramp up testing with a high proportion of RT-PCR tests, plan effective containment measures, and augment hospital bed capacity if occupancy crosses 40 per cent.
Official data show a disproportionately large share of Rapid Antigen Tests (RAT), which are significantly less accurate than the gold-standard RT-PCR tests, and tend to produce a large number of false negatives, stated reports.
This suggests that the situation in the region could be worse than what the tests indicate, and that a much larger section of the population may have contracted the virus.
MANIPUR has reported a weekly positivity rate of 14.69 per cent. Across the state's 16 districts, 19 per cent of tests on average were RT-PCR tests.
Eight districts of Manipur have reported positivity higher than 10 per cent. The Centre has asked Manipur to critically analyse rising deaths in the districts of Bishnupur, Imphal East and Imphal West.
MEGHALAYA: Weekly positivity rate is 14.77 per cent; 17 per cent RT-PCR tests on average in the state's 11 districts.
Seven districts have more than 10 per cent positivity. On July 6, the Centre had flagged to the state that East Khasi Hills had recored 26 deaths in the June 28-July 4 period, a 53 per cent increase in weekly deaths compared to the previous week.
ARUNACHAL PRADESH: Weekly positivity rate is 6.74 per cent; only 3 per cent RT-PCR tests on average across the state.
Five districts have more than 10 per cent positivity.
SIKKIM: Weekly positivity rate is 24.98 per cent; a high 73 per cent of tests were RT-PCR.
All four districts of the state have more than 10 per cent positivity.
ASSAM: Weekly positivity rate is 4.41 per cent; 12 per cent tests were RT-PCR tests.
Four districts have more than 10 per cent positivity.
On July 6, the Centre had flagged to the state the increase in the number of deaths in the previous four weeks in Jorhat and Sivasagar.
TRIPURA: Weekly positivity rate is 9.39 per cent; 28 per cent tests were RT-PCR tests.
Three districts have more than 10 per cent positivity.
The Centre has voiced concern over the increase in the number of deaths in West Tripura.
MIZORAM: Weekly positivity rate is of 8.15 per cent; 17 per cent tests were RT-PCR.
Three districts have more than 10 per cent positivity.
NAGALAND: Weekly positivity rate is 7.14 per cent. 37 per cent tests were RT-PCR.
Three districts have more than 10 per cent positivity.
