A week after it sounded an alert for the fourth wave of Covid-19, the state-level task force Thursday met for the second time in two weeks and decided to tighten the restrictions.
Officials said a fine of Rs 200 will be levied on those who don’t wear facemasks in public.
Additional revenue secretary Anindya Bhattacharya said repeat offenders will have to pay Rs 400. The task force also found the positivity rate highest in the 21-30 age group — 27.45 per cent.
As per the latest reports from the state Covid control room, Tripura’s daily positivity rate is 8.84 percent with 382 people testing positive in the last 24 hours. ‘The virus is constantly mutating and the sub-variants are causing the spurt. Though we are yet to finalize the exact variant that’s spreading this time, preliminary findings suggest it’s a sub-variant of the Omicron strain,’ health secretary Debashish Basu said.
He also said while the prevalent sub-variant is showing tendencies of evading the vaccine cover and is still infecting patients in many cases, the strain has low virulence and isn’t as fatal as the previous variants like delta or delta plus.
Out of the 2,070 active cases of the Omicron sub-variant, which is suspected to be causing most of the cases now, 2,039 are in home isolation, 31 are hospitalised, among whom 11 are critically ill. These 11 patients have major comorbidities.
Meanwhile, the state government has decided to resume mass vaccination through schools, social clubs etc. Tripura is estimated to need 19 lakh vaccine doses while it currently has 1.17 lakh doses. The rest of the doses have been requested from the Centre, officials said, adding that the doses are expected to reach in the next few days.
Officials have also issued strong caution against overcrowding and asked people to maintain social distancing. However, fairs and public gatherings haven’t been stopped right away owing to the low virulence of the virus.
