Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim are the four states in the country that are yet to record a COVID-19 fatality, the Centre said on Friday.
“Even though the lack of testing facilities and dedicated COVID-19 hospitals initially hampered the fight against COVID-19 in the northeast, however, the infrastructure has been bolstered since then,” the ministry said.
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The ministry further said that in the fight against COVID-19, the Centre has been strongly supporting and strengthening the medical infrastructure in the northeast.
“A critical pillar which hampered the efforts of the northeast in combating the COVID-19 outbreak was complete lack of testing facilities,” the ministry said.
“But today, because of the focussed attention of the Centre, the region has 39 testing labs in the public sector and three in the private sector, totalling to 42 laboratories,” the ministry added.
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It further informed that Assam has 10 public and two private laboratories, while Meghalaya has six public and one private lab.
“Nagaland has 13 testing labs, Arunachal Pradesh three, Manipur, Mizoram and Sikkim two each, and Tripura one public laboratory for COVID-19 testing,” the ministry added.
Adding further the ministry said, “Northeast suffered from an acute lack of dedicated COVID-19 hospitals, COVID Health Centres and COVID Care Centres (DCCC).”
“With the help of the Centre, the healthcare infrastructure across all the eight states has been substantially supplemented,” the ministry added.
“The Northeast now has a total of 1,518 COVID-19 dedicated health facilities, including 60 hospitals, 360, health centres, and care centres,” the ministry further added.
“The Centre has helped the region to step up the number of ICU beds, isolation beds, oxygen-supported beds and ventilators,” the ministry added.
It may be mentioned here that Assam has 67,833 isolation, 1,841 oxygen-supported and 598 ICU beds, and 350 ventilators.
Arunachal Pradesh has 1,998 isolation, 178 oxygen-supported, and 60 ICU beds, and 16 ventilators.
In Meghalaya, there are 1,231 isolation, 345 oxygen-supported and 83 ICU beds, and 95 ventilators.
Nagaland has 681 isolation, 142 oxygen-supported, 54 ICU beds and 28 ventilators, while Sikkim has 251 isolation, 224 oxygen-supported, 20 ICU beds and 59 ventilators.
There are 1,277 isolation, 10 oxygen-supported, 13 ICU beds and seven ventilators in Tripura.
Manipur has 829 isolation, 317 oxygen supported and 48 ICU beds and 45 ventilators and Mizoram has 709 isolation, 213 oxygen-supported and 37 ICU beds, and 27 ventilators.
Moreover, the Centre so far has distributed 1.21 lakh N95 masks, 0.66 lakh PPE kits and 1.5 lakh hydroxychloroquine tablets to Arunachal Pradesh.
The Centre has also distributed 3.37 lakh N95 masks, 2.01 lakh kits and 6.7 lakh HCQ tablets to Assam.
0.95 lakh N95 masks, 0.79 lakh PPE kits and 2.7 lakh HCQ tablets have been distributed by the Centre in Manipur.
In Meghalaya, the Centre has distributed 0.75 lakh N95 masks, 0.52 lakh PPE kits and 1.75 lakh HCQ tablets.
In Mizoram, the Centre has distributed 0.76 lakh N95 masks, 0.31 lakh PPE kits and 2.2 lakh HCQ tablets.
While in Nagaland, the Centre has distributed 0.7 lakh N95 masks, 0.25 lakh PPE kits and 1.75 lakh hydroxychloroquine tablets.
The Centre so far has distributed 0.80 lakh N95 masks, 0.52 lakh PPE kits and 0.25 lakh HCQ tablets in Sikkim.
In Tripura, the Centre so far has distributed 1.38 lakh N95 masks, 1.13 lakh PPE kits and 2.5 lakh HCQ tablets.