Guwahati: Assam has been reporting a five-fold increase in daily Covid cases for the last 10 days, according to an analysis by NDTV. The data also showed that the positivity rate in the state has gone up nearly six times in 10 days.
In the last 24 hours, Assam recorded 591 new coronavirus cases, an increase of over 100 infections compared to the previous day. The state also reported its first Omicron case on Wednesday after a Saudi Arabia returnee tested positive for the new coronavirus variant
The active case in the Northeastern state has doubled in the 10 days.
During the period between December 28, 2021 and January 5 this year, the state reported 2,354 Covid cases, according to National Health Mission (NHM) data.
Of these, 1,020 cases are from Kamrup Metropolitan, which primarily comprises Guwahati city.
Even though the number of tests being conducted has not increased significantly, the daily cases in Guwahati have increased by nearly 500% in the last 10 days.
Assam reported 150 and 156 new COVID-19 cases on January 1 and 2 respectively, and the numbers shot up to 351 and 475 on the next two consecutive days, with the most infections being reported from Kamrup Metro.
Despite the rising cases, the number of patients requiring hospitalisation has not grown proportionally. Between December 27, 2021 and January 5, only five per cent of the Covid beds in the state were occupied.
Assam still has 95% of the over 8 thousand oxygen beds lying vacant.
The NHM data accessed by NDTV showed another worrying trend in Assam - a high number of positive cases despite no major increase in the number of tests being conducted.
On December 27, Assam reported 103 new cases out of 33,129 tests done on that day. The active caseload in the state stood at 741, with a positivity rate of 0.31%.
On January 5, the number of tests done remains almost similar - but the number of new cases has gone up to 591. The positivity rate stood at 1.72, almost a six-fold increase in the last 10 days.