Nagaland COVID-19 update : 18 October 2020

A total of 118 +ve cases detected today in Nagaland from the district of Dimapur- 93, Kohima- 13, Mon- 9 and Peren- 3. Also reported 65 patients were discharged from Kohima- 43, Dimapur- 21 and Longleng- 1.

Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) department warns of uncontrolled spread of COVID

Dimapur, Oct 17 (NPN): In a clear warning that uncontrolled spread of COVID-19 in Nagaland could lead to a shift towards community transmission, the state Health & Family Welfare (H&FW) department has issued this caution in its weekly report.

H&FW department in its report on COVID-19 status, released Saturday, has raised the alarm that it had been witnessing “uncontrolled spread” of the virus in closed settings like restaurants, bakery, religious communities etc.

According to the department, this has increased the risk of spread in the community, adding “these are settings where super spreader events happen.”

According to Health department, “super-spreader events” are non-technical terms used to describe persons and events where the spread of COVID-19 is more than under normal circumstances.

It was pointed out that 10% to 20% of positive cases are responsible for 80% of transmission, a term referred to as super-spreaders.

Normally one COVID-19 case can infect only one or two people, but super-spreader events occur where more than 10 to 15 cases or even hundreds are infected in a single event. Super-spreader events will easily lead to community transmission, the department said.

The H&FW department also pointed out that the positivity rate of 8.5% in the state was higher than the national average of 7.9%. “For the first time, the state’s sample positivity rate is higher than that of the country,” it added. It said symptomatic cases have also increased to 4% and positive cases among people with comorbidities has also increased to 0.4% .

“We expect more hospitalizations and severe cases in the coming days,” the department stated.

Further, the H&FW department also informed that the percentage of traced contacts among confirmed cases had increased from 7% in July to 56% by mid-October. The week also reported the highest number of traced contacts till date, it said.

Based on the figures, the department implied that this indicates a shift of cases from local transmission to community transmission.

Community transmission takes place when the source of an individual’s infection can’t be traced and isolated. During this stage, those who have not been exposed to an infected person or anyone who has a travel history to affected countries still test positive for the coronavirus. The outbreak will spread fast in clusters once the community transmission starts.

At this stage of disease transmission, the individuals within a city or community begin to contract the infection randomly, hence making it more challenging to track down all those who could possibly have the disease.

As on 17th October, 27 deaths were reported out of which 6 deaths were not COVID related and one under investigation.