One Covid-19 case reported, lowest since March 13, 2020

Test positivity rate, the proportion of positives out of the samples tested, is at 0.02% in Gurugram, while the state has a positivity rate of 0.05% at present

The district on Wednesday reported a single case of the coronavirus infection (Covid-19) for the first time since March 13 last year, when the first Covid-19 case of Gurugram was confirmed. Health officials attribute the dip in cases to increased testing, monitoring and effective vaccination.

Around 3,500 samples are being tested every day in Gurugram. (HT Archive)

According to the health department data, of 3,389 tests administered on Tuesday, only one positive case was detected on Wednesday. This took the test positivity rate, the proportion of positives out of the samples tested, to 0.02% in Gurugram, while the state has a positivity rate of 0.05% at present.

The Covid-19 cases have been on a constant wave of peaks and troughs since May 2020, after reporting a relatively lower count of cases in March and April of 2020. In contrast, cases started spiking in April 2021, with around 100,000 of the total of 181,033 cases reported during the second wave.

Currently, there are 71 active cases, of whom five are critically ill patients undergoing treatments at hospitals. The Covid-19 toll is currently at 922.

“Daily cases are on a decline, but the health department is conducting an average of 3,750 tests per day, with nearly 80% of them Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR). Testing, monitoring and effective vaccination have led to a downfall in infection rate,” said Dr Virender Yadav, the chief medical officer of Gurugram.

As reported by HT on Monday, the weekly case count has been on a constant decline in the district, dropping from 51 cases in the first week of August to 39 cases over the past week. For more than a month, fewer than 10 new cases are detected every day.

Data collated through the district health bulletin shows that from July 18 to 24, 52 cases were reported, after which 50 and 51 cases were reported from July 24-31 and August 1-7, respectively. Subsequently, the cases dropped to 36 from August 8-14 and increased marginally to 39 from August 15-21.

Despite the downward trend of cases, the health department is preparing for a third wave that is predicted around October by the Central government. Private hospitals have been asked to form oxygen audit committees, whereas a team of doctors from the health department and Indian Medical Association (IMA) has been constituted to audit the bed availability in private hospitals.