E-Paper
Covid positivity rate rises by 22% in Himachal in 7 weeks
State recorded highest positivity rate of 28.9% in the week that ended on May 16, the highest since the coronavirus outbreak in March last year
The Covid positivity rate in Himachal Pradesh has risen by 22% in the past seven weeks.
The hill state recorded its highest positivity rate of 28.9% in the week that ended on May 16. That’s the highest since the coronavirus outbreak in March last year.
It was 7% in the March 29 to April 4 week, while in February, the positivity rate was as low as 0.67%.
Positivity rate is the percentage of positive samples per 100 tests.
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National Health Mission state director Dr Nipun Jindal said of the 99,807 tests conducted last week, 28,817 samples were found positive.
As Covid-19 cases started rising from February-end, Dr Jindal said, the positivity rate also went up. By March-end, it was 3% and steadily rose after that. “It was 20% between April 26 and May 2 and 26.3% from May 3-9),” he said, adding this was when the second wave was sweeping the state.
Positivity rate higher in border districts
Dr Jindal said the positivity rate is high in the state’s districts bordering Punjab and Haryana. This is due to the high infection rate as the movement and activities in these regions are more than in the other districts.
Kangra, the worst-hit district recorded the highest positivity rate of 38.1%, followed by 37.2% in Sirmaur and 33% in Solan.
Six of the 12 districts have a positivity rate of above 30%. Mandi has a positivity rate of 31.9%, Hamirpur 31.5% and Shimla 30.5%.
At 8.6%, Lahaul-Spiti is the only district with a positivity rate below 10%, while Chamba and Kinnaur have it below 20%. Bilaspur, Kullu and Una’s positivity rate is below 30%.
Testing increased in Kangra
Kangra chief medical officer Dr Gurdarshan Gupta said Kangra conducted 22,824 tests last week of which 8,686 samples tested positive.
“The high number of tests and relatively high number of cases has pushed up the district’s positivity rate,” said Dr Gupta. Overall, since the outbreak, the district’s positivity rate has been 8.8%.
Dr Jindal said the test, trace, isolate and treat is the strategy to combat the Covid-19. The state has ramped up testing by introducing mobile testing facility.
He said this week the state is recording a dip in infections and if the trend continues, the peak would be over.
Kangra deputy commissioner Rakesh Kumar Prajapati said given the spread of virus, stricter curbs have been introduced in the district. Apart from curfew on week days, there is a complete lockdown in the district on weekends.
“We are also conducting the highest number of tests in the state and hence the infection rate is high,” he said.
