The states of the northeast have a lower number of COVID-19 cases in the country as compared to the rest of the nation.

A statement issued by the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Friday said this.

Northeast as a whole as on date has a total of 3731 active cases are 3731 and the recoveries exceed this at 5715.

"The death rate continues to be low, with no deaths in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim," the health ministry statement added.

"The fight against the pandemic across the country has been a concerted and collective endeavour," the ministry further said.

"The Centre has pro-actively and strongly supported the strengthening of the medical care infrastructure in the NE States to fight COVID-19," the ministry added.

A critical pillar which hampered the efforts of the states in the northeast in combating was the COVID-19 outbreak was complete lack of testing facilities.

"But today, because of the focussed attention of the Centre through the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare, the northeast has 39 testing labs in the public sector and three in the private sector, totalling to 42 labs," the ministry further added.

It may be mentioned here that the northeast also suffered from an acute lack of dedicated COVID Hospitals, COVID Health Centres and COVID care Centres.

With the help of the Centre, the healthcare infrastructure across the northeast has been substantially supplemented.

The government of India has supported the northeast in stepping up the number of ICU beds, Isolation beds, Oxygen supported beds and ventilators.

"This has played a critical role in the effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases," the ministry further said.

"The Centre has also strongly supported the northeast to step up the availability of N95 masks, PPE kits and HCQ tablets," the statement from the ministry further added.