The coronavirus infections in Haryana continued its downward trend for the second consecutive week with the state reporting 3,848 less cases last week (November 29 to December 6) as compared to the week before. The decline in number of cases had started two weeks ago after a big surge during festival season, which saw weekly numbers getting pushed to over 17,000 in mid-November.
The decline in number of new infections gains significance as the health department has ramped up sampling substantially in the past two weeks, testing over 5.60 lakh people. As per the health department data, the state reported 11,374 fresh infections last week (November 29 to December 6) as compared to 15,222 the week before (November 23 to 29) and 17,426 between November 16 and 22. Officials, however, warned that the decline in cases should not be a cause for complacency.
Ramped up RT-PCR sampling
After testing over 2.81 lakh people between November 23 to 29, health authorities tested about 2.79 lakh persons last week. “More than 90% samples tested last week were reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests considered the gold standard test for Covid-19,” officials said. The positivity rate has come down from 6.7% to 6.54 % last week, they added.
{{/usCountry}}After testing over 2.81 lakh people between November 23 to 29, health authorities tested about 2.79 lakh persons last week. “More than 90% samples tested last week were reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) tests considered the gold standard test for Covid-19,” officials said. The positivity rate has come down from 6.7% to 6.54 % last week, they added.
{{/usCountry}}While eight of the 22 districts still have critical positivity rate of more than 6%, data showed a decrease in the positivity rate last week.
Faridabad’s positivity rate came down from 12.4% to 12.1% while Gurugram’s dropped from 9.9% to 9.6%. Rewari, which recorded positivity rate of 8.37% last week, was down from 8.6% registered the week before. Similarly, Hisar’s positivity rate dropped from 8.2% to 7.6 %, Panchkula 7.9% to 7.7%, Panipat 7.8% to 7.5%, Ambala 7.4 % to 7.1% and Karnal 6.3% to 6.1%.
Twelve districts—Mahendergarh, Sonepat, Rohtak, Kurukshetra, Fatehabad, Sirsa, Bhiwani, Yamunanagar, Palwal, Jind, Kaithal and Jhajjar—have positivity rate of less than 6% but higher than the desirable positivity rate of less than 2%. Only Charkhi Dadri (1.6%) and Nuh (1.2%) have desirable positivity rate of less than 2%.