DEHRADUN: Uttarakhand is on top of six Himalayan states when it comes to death rate due to COVID-19. Six out of 11 states/UTs in the country that have the highest death rates are Himalayan states.
"The second wave has exposed fragility of the mountain states of India. Death rates are alarmingly high compared to the other states of India. This observation deserves attention of highest levels of the government of India," said Anoop Nautiyal, whose Social Development for Communities has been collating and analysing Covid 19 data from March 15, 2020.
After Punjab (2.6 per cent), Uttarakhand (2.0 per cent) and Nagaland (1.9 per cent) have the highest death rates in the country. Other Himalayan states making the list are Himachal Pradesh (1.7 per cent) Meghalaya (1.7 per cent) Sikkim (1.6 per cent) & Manipur (1.6 per cent).
In the list of top 10 states in terms of death rate, six are Himalayan states while five are non-Himalayan states- Punjab (2.6 per cent), Maharashtra (1.7 per cent), Delhi (1.7 per cent), Goa (1.7 per cent) and Andaman and Nicobar Islands (1.7 per cent).
With 446 new cases on Sunday total number of active cases reached 16125 in Uttarakhand. Cases of black fungus/Mucormycosis reached 299 out if which 47 died and 18 have been cured.
Meanwhile, Uttarakhand government is mulling to extend some relaxation in curfew restrictions in five districts from June 8 which have shown improvement in terms of COVID situation. The districts of Bageshwar, Champawat, Haridwar, Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar recorded a test positivity rate of below 5 per cent in the past one week.
Officials told that more shops are likely to be permitted to open in these five districts and curfew timings are likely to be relaxed. The government is also planning to permit the plying of public transport vehicles with a two-third occupancy.