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Ten deaths in a single day and a sudden spurt in the Covid cases has sent a fresh alarm to the health department of the Himachal Pradesh on Thursday. Officials primarily held the festive season gatherings and breach of Covid protocols accountable for this sudden surge in Covid-19 cases.
However, 118 children getting infected from the Coronavirus appears to be the biggest concern this time. Most of these cases are reported as asymptomatic.
The state government's decision of reopening schools this week to resume offline classes for students belonging to 3rd to 7th standard has seen a huge dissent among the parents, as they clearly disagree to send their wards to school amid surge in Covid-19 cases .
In all 42 deaths that have been reported in the last 10 days have pushed the total number of fatalities to 3,783.
The number of active cases also crossed the 1100 mark on Friday.
Among those who died of Covid in the past 24 hours included a 38 year old female and 101 year old male in Kangra district. Of 10 deaths on November 11 , three were in Una –a district bordering Punjab .
Health officials claim that massive crowds in the markets during Diwali festival and earlier breach of the social distancing norms during the bypoll campaigns are to be blamed primarily for this sudden rise in Covid infection .
“ We are keeping a close eye on the situation .The matter was also discussed during the last cabinet meeting .The things are certainly worrying ,especially the toll , but we have increased the testing and taken few other measures” a senior official at National Health Mission (NHM) says.
Himachal Pradesh has already attained 100 percent vaccination of first dose and has also attained a major success in coverage of the eligible population of above 18 for the second dose of Covid vaccination.
The state recently introduced relaxation on Covid restrictions but Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has already hinted at taking appropriate remedial steps if the positivity rate reflects any alarming increase in the next few days.
There are also reports about children down with viral fever in some of the schools which opened earlier for the classes above 8th .This is particularly in the districts of Shimla ,Kangra and Sirmaur.
