Aizawl: Mizoram on Saturday reported 725 new COVID-19 cases, 330 less than the previous day, with the tally increasing to 69,751, a health department bulletin said.
The daily infection rate was at 10.73 per cent, as the new cases were detected from 6,754 sample tests, it said.
Aizwal district reported the highest number of fresh cases at 438, followed by Lunglei at 72 and Lawngtlai at 48, the PTI reported.
At least 168 children were among the newly infected people, the bulletin said, adding that one patient has a travel history and the remaining 724 were found to have contracted the disease locally.
As many as 432 fresh patients have developed symptoms of COVID-19.
The death toll remained at 233 as no new fatality due to the infection was reported, it said.
According to the bulletin, 21 persons per 1 lakh population have succumbed to the disease so far.
Sixty-three people per 1,000 population in Mizoram have contracted the coronavirus infection.
The northeastern state now has 12,347 active cases, while 816 people were cured of the disease on Friday, taking the total number of recoveries to 57,171.
The recovery rate among coronavirus patients currently stands at 81.96 per cent.
Meanwhile, the Zoram People’s Movement (ZPM) and the Congress accused the state government of failing to deal with the COVID situation, an allegation the ruling Mizo National Front denied.
ZPM legislature party leader Lalduhoma on Friday said the state government has “totally failed” to combat the COVID crisis, despite getting strong supports from people, churches and NGOs.
He blamed the Zoramthanga dispensation for not being able to set up adequate RT-PCR laboratories and mostly depending on the rapid antigen test to detect coronavirus patients.
“The average proportion of samples tested through RT-PCR in the June-August period was at 22.66 per cent as against 70.89 per cent of rapid antigen test,” he said.
Mizoram has only one RT-PCR laboratory, which is at Zoram Medical College (ZMC), a dedicated COVID hospital, and efforts are on to set up another facility in Lunglei town.
The Congress also said the government has “miserably failed” to arrest the rising coronavirus cases in the state, and demanded the resignation of Health Minister R Lalthangliana.
It also slammed the minister for claiming Mizoram as one of the best performing states in COVID management.
“The prolonged lockdown, which has been imposed since April, has severely paralysed the state’s economy and affected career of students,” the party said in a statement.
Mizoram topped among the northeastern states in testing as more than nine lakh samples have been tested for the infection, which is 82 per cent of its population based on the 2011 Census, Lalthangliana said.
The health authorities have conducted more than 9.55 lakh sample tests till date. According to state immunisation officer Dr Lalzawmi, over 6.63 lakh people have been inoculated till Friday with 2.96 lakh of them having received both doses of the vaccine.
