Sikkim: 61 of 97 COVID-19 cases of Delta variant reported in people below 35 years

Gangtok: A few days after the Sikkim government announced the detection of 97 COVID-19 cases of the highly transmissible Delta variant, data shared exclusively with EastMojo revealed that as many as 61 of those cases were reported in people below 35 years.

According to the data provided by the state health department, most of the Delta variant cases of COVID-19 were reported from East Sikkim district (51).

While 72 cases were reported in people below 45 years, 20 were recorded in the age group of 21-25 years.

The youngest to test positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Sikkim is an 11-year-old child, while the oldest is an 86-year-old person. Sixty-three of the samples were of men and 34 of women.

A further break-up of the age groups testing positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19 in Sikkim are as follows:

11-15 years: 5 cases
16-20 years: 11 cases
21-25 years: 20 cases
26-30 years: 9 cases
31-35 years: 16 cases
36-40 years: 6 cases
41-45 years: 5 cases.

In the age group of people above 45 years, 25 cases of Delta variant were reported. While 12 cases were reported among people below 60 year, 11 were recorded in the age group of 61-75 years. Meanwile, two Delta variant cases were reported in people above 75 years.

Also read | Delta variant fallout: Darjeeling puts restrictions on travel from Sikkim

East Sikkim had 51 COVID-19 samples testing positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19. The district has been divided as urban and rural, considering how capital Gangtok and other towns make a large part of the urban areas.

In East Sikkim, while urban areas recorded 22 cases, rural East Sikkim recorded 29 cases. South Sikkim recorded 38 Delta variant cases from among the samples sent for genome sequencing to West Bengal.

North Sikkim had five samples testing positive for the Delta variant of COVID-19 while West Sikkim had three.

Officials in the health department said that it is becoming harder to maintain the contact tracing of the 97 Delta variant cases in the state. They said that most of the cases reported in the state since June could be of the highly transmissible Delta variant.