Health Experts Fear Community Transmission Of COVID-19 In Tripura

Health experts in Tripura fear the state may be staring at community transmission of the COVID-19 virus.

This concern - that each new infection can no longer be traced back to its origin - was conveyed to Chief Minister Biplab Kumar Deb at a high-level meeting on Tuesday. Following this meeting the Chief Minister instructed community-level screening, to check for the presence of Covid antibodies, from September 15.

Fears over community transmission of the highly infectious virus come amid an increase in the positivity rate.

"The state is recording, on average, nine to 10 per cent positive cases out of tests conducted daily. This is quite higher than normal," Dr Tapan Majumdar, an Assistant Professor at the Agartala Government Medical College, and head of microbiology at GBP Hospital, said.

Dr Majumdar had attended the meeting with the Chief Minister.

The positivity rate is often considered a vital parameter to measure prevalence of the disease among the community. The national rate, on Wednesday, had dropped from 11 to around nine per cent. Assam, which has the most number of Covid cases in the northeast, has a positivity rate of around 5.7 per cent.

Dr Majumdar pointed out that the WHO had suggested that a positivity rate of under five per cent was manageable.

Sources in the health department have hinted that community transmission of the virus in the state may have already begun and has been unnoticed, so far, due to a lack of community-level testing.

Several states, including Delhi, Telangana and Kerala, have also suggested that the Covid outbreak in their territories has progressed to community spread. This has not, so far, been confirmed by the centre, which maintains community transmission has not been reached.

After the meeting with the Chief Minister, Dr Majumdar said the state government was laying emphasis on boosting immunity and antibody mapping.

The Chief Minister has also directed COVID-19 core committee officials to conduct an antibody survey across the state, so plasma therapy can be started for ailing patients.

The survey, which will come in quick succession to another Covid survey, held across Tripura earlier this month, is to be conducted from September 15.

Tripura has reported 8,920 Covid cases so far, of which 78 are deaths linked to the virus and around 2,500 are active cases. The fatality rate of 0.88 per cent is the highest among northeastern states.