17 new cases take Arunachal’s COVID-19 tally to 16,553

Itanagar, December 16 dmanewsdesk:  At least 17 more people, including four security personnel, tested positive for COVID- 19 in Arunachal Pradesh, pushing the tally in the state to 16,553, a health department official said on Wednesday.

Of the fresh cases, five were reported from Tawang and three each from Changlang and East Siang and one each from Siang, Lohit, West Kameng, Papumpare, Upper Siang and Tirap districts, State Surveillance Officer (SSO) Dr Lobsang Jampa said.

“Three Assam Rifles personnel and an army jawan are among the new patients,” he said.

All the fresh infections were detected through rapid antigen tests, the SSO said, adding that all the new patients, barring eight, were asymptomatic.

Twenty-one people were cured of the disease on Tuesday, taking the total number of recoveries to 16,264, Jampa said.

The recovery rate among coronavirus patients in the state stands at 98.25 per cent, he said.

Arunachal Pradesh now has 234 active cases, and the death toll remained at 55 as no new fatality due to the infection was reported.

The COVID-19 fatality ratio in the state is currently at 0.33 per cent.

The Capital Complex region, comprising Itanagar, Naharlagun, Nirjuli and Banderdewa areas, has the highest number of active cases at 100, followed by Changlang (26), East Siang (23) and West Kameng (22).

The state has so far tested 3,70,128 samples for COVID-19, including 588 on Tuesday, he said.

The positivity rate now stands at 1.75 per cent.

Source: PTI