Highest daily Covid-19 case count this year takes tally past 60,000

The district recorded 97 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily case count in 79 days, which took the total case count beyond 60,000

The district recorded 97 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, the highest daily case count in 79 days, which took the total case count beyond 60,000. The rapid transmission of the coronavirus in the last two weeks has placed Gurugram among the eight districts of concern in Haryana, as per a union ministry of health and family welfare’s report issued on Wednesday.

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Health department officials said that the Covid-19 spread is under control but admitted that planning to scale up measures to curb further spread is underway. “The test positivity rate (positives out of the total samples tested in a day), which is almost 2.1%, shows the pandemic is well controlled in the district. As per the World Health Organisation guideline, positivity has to be less than 5%. Testing will be ramped up if Covid-19 cases increase further. Currently, almost 3,500 tests are administered every day. The department has also increased the containment zones to 18,” said Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer.

Data collated from the daily district health bulletins show that the district had last reported its highest cases in a day, 96, on December 30, 2020, after which the daily cases continued to dip. From the beginning of March, the number of daily coronavirus cases has been climbing up, with at least 1,104 new infections detected in the last 17 days. The case count over the first 17 days of March has increased by almost 71% from February, when 786 cases were confirmed.

There has been a constant spike in the number of cases across Haryana, placing it among 12 states showing a rapid surge in Covid-19 cases. According to the union health ministry’s data based on the seven-day average, new cases increased from 151 on March 1 to over 248 by March 8 in the state. This further increased to 374 by March 15, leading to an overall increase in the test positivity rate from 1.2% (on March 1) to almost 3.3% (on March 15).

The overall surge across the state has been a consequence of daily detection of new cases, mainly in the eight districts of Yamunanagar, Karnal, Faridabad, Panchkula, Kaithal, Kurukshetra, Ambala and Gurugram. Most of the affected districts have reported a 150-200% spike in the number of cases, while it is at 71% for Gurugram.

The total tally of the Covid-19 cases in the city has reached 60,097, while the active case count reached 635, of which at least 574 are in home isolation and 60 are moderate to severely-ill patients undergoing treatment in private hospitals. The death toll stands at 360.