Guwahati/Agartala, Aug 6 The eight northeastern states registered 65,882 Covid-19 positive cases with 174 people succumbing to the disease so far, Union Ministry of Health and Family Affairs said on Thursday.

According to the figures from the Ministry, Assam tops with 50,445 coronavirus cases and 121 deaths.

As the deadly virus spreads rapidly across the country including the northeastern region of India, there are three states -- Mizoram (537), Sikkim (800) and Meghalaya (929) -- where there are less than 1,000 positive cases found so far.

As on Thursday, of the 65,882 nCoV positive cases reported in the eight states - Assam has the highest 50,445 cases followed by Tripura (5,725), Manipur (3,093), Nagaland (2,498), Arunachal Pradesh (1,855), Meghalaya (929), Sikkim (800) and Mizoram (537). A total of 21,347 are active cases in the eight states and 44,361 people have recovered from the disease.

Against the national average of recovery rate of 67.19 per cent, Assam's recovery rate is 71.20 per cent, followed by Meghalaya (69.4 per cent), Tripura (67.41 per cent), Mizoram (64.94 per cent) and Manipur (60.20 per cent).

According to Assam's Health and Family Welfare Department officials, with 32,796 tests per million, the state stands at the fifth place in the country on this count. Assam, which so far tested 11.30 lakh samples, has been able to maintain a low positivity rate consistently with 5.91 per cent.

According to health officials of northeastern states, after the withdrawal of travel restrictions by the union Home Ministry on May 4, around 600,000 people returned to the northeastern states from different parts of the country, causing a sharp rise in Covid-19 cases.

Of the 600,000 natives who returned to the northeastern states, 4.15 lakh people alone returned to Assam through different modes of transport - road, train and air.

Triggered by the rise in COVID-19 cases, various governments in the northeastern states have taken some stringent measures including lockdown in the entire state or in the containment zones, week-end lockdown and night curfew in a bid to tame the spread of the deadly contagion.

8 NE states register 65,882 Covid-19 cases, 174 deaths