After witnessing an unprecedented surge in Covid-19 cases in the past fortnight, Himachal is now among the top three worst affected states in the country with average growth rate of new infections and positivity rate, higher than the national average.

The small hill state, which has logged 135782 positive cases till May 10, has the second highest growth rate of fresh positive cases in the country.

The daily growth rate of Covid-19 cases, averaged over a seven-day period in the week ending May 9 in Himachal, was recorded at 3.33 percent, much higher than the national average of 1.86 percent.

This is leading to an alarming rise in the daily number of cases and deaths in the state, which has an estimated population of 76 lakh.

The deadly second wave of Covid-19 which is more fierce and worrisome has claimed the lives of 413 people in the last 10 days and the death toll in the state now stands at 1925. There are more than 34400 active cases in the hill state.

The average growth rate essentially means the speed at which Covid-19 infections increase.

The daily growth rate of Covid-19 cases in Himachal  has surpassed the worst affected states of Maharashtra (1.11), Uttar Pradesh (1.95), Karnataka (2.73), Haryana (2.59), Rajasthan (2.56), Bihar (2.50), Tamil Nadu (1.93) and others in the country. Uttarakhand is leading in terms of growth rate of new infections at 3.54 percent.

Another worrying reason for Himachal is higher test positivity rate. With Covid-19 cases galloping in the state, the seven-day average of test positivity rate (proportion of confirmed cases out of total tests conducted) in the week ending May 9 was recorded at 27 percent, against the national average of 22.8 percent.

The average daily growth rate and average TPR in the week ending April 30 was recorded at 2.78 percent and 19.1 percent respectively in the state.

The hill state on Monday reported 53 deaths and 4359 fresh Covid cases. The  daily TPR was recorded at a high 38 percent while it was 33 percent on Sunday. As far as the cumulative TPR is concerned, it was recorded at around 8 percent.

The positivity rate is a crucial metric as a high positivity rate is indicative of higher infection in the community and points to the need for ramping up testing.

As the disease graph continues to peak in the state, Himachal's fatality rate stands at 1.4 percent while recovery rate was recorded at 73 percent.

Kangra is the worst affected district in the state with 27806 confirmed cases and 530 deaths till now. Kangra is followed by the state's capital Shimla with 407 deaths and 18383 total cases and Mandi with 222 fatalities and 18509 cases.

Kangra has also recorded the highest number of 10077 active cases followed by 3950 cases in Solan and 3489 cases in Mandi.

Notably, the Himachal Government has imposed Corona curfew till May 17 suspending all public transport and allowing essential commodity shops to open for only three hours from May 10 onwards.

Himachal had on May 8 recorded its sharpest single-day spike of 5424 Covid-19 cases while 56 fatalities, the  highest ever in a single day, was reported on May 7.

5 percent of Himachal have got second dose of Covid vaccine

Since the beginning of Covid-19 vaccination drive in the state, a total of 3.80 lakh people have so far received both doses of the Covid-19 vaccine in the hill state, which has an estimated population of 76 lakh.

This means only five percent have received the Covid jabs till May 10, as per the data with the state's Health Department.

Among 2040410 Covid doses administered, 380791 persons were administered both doses of vaccine while 1659619 have received only one dose of vaccine.

219654 persons above the age of 60 and 52095 persons between the age group of 45-60 years have received the second jab of Covid vaccine.

The State Government is yet to start vaccination for people in the age group of 18-45 years.