As per the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC), Pune city has reported an RTPCR positivity rate of less than 5% in July and the combined positivity rate from RTPCR and RAT tests has stayed below 3.91% in the same month.
Although this qualifies for the city to be eligible for recent relaxations, just like the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR), Pune did not make the cut because the district’s positivity rate is above 5% for July.
In July, the city saw over 0.175 million RTPCR swabs and 38,000 Rapid Antigen Testing (RAT) swabs collected for Covid-19 testing. Twenty one per cent more RTPCR tests were conducted, as opposed to RAT tests.
As per the PMC health department data, in July, Pune city recorded 175,641 RTPCR tests, of which 146,538 were conducted in private hospitals and 29,103 were conducted in government hospitals. There were 38,118 RAT swabs taken, of which 29,004 were at government hospitals, and 9,114 were at private hospitals.
The RTPCR positivity rate, is one of the criteria to declare further relaxations, as announced by the state government on August 3. State task force member Dr Shashank Joshi said, “One of the advisories made by the task force to the CMO was that districts which have a RTPCR positivity rate of less than 5%, which is also the state average, every day for two weeks at least, could be offered further relaxations. However, this is applicable for the entire district as an administrative unit. In case of Pune city I cannot specifically comment. However, even if city’s combined average positivity rate is low, there is no way to monitor the movement of people between rural and urban areas.”
However, public representatives have been opposing the decision and have called it biased. Shivaji Nagar MLA Siddharth Shirole said, “In the previous lockdown as well as this lockdown Pune city was considered a separate administrative unit. As of now, Pune city is at level 3 and Pune rural is at level four, as per the state government’s earlier orders. However, now the city and rural parts are being compared on the same lines. How can a small taluka like Indapur or Mulshi be compared with the state’s largest city, which is Pune. We agree that there could be surges again and that there could be a floating population between the city and the rural areas, however, the city has always responded to lockdowns since March 2020. If cases surge once again, then we will draw back, but at least for now, people could have some business for a month at least.”
{{/usCountry}}However, public representatives have been opposing the decision and have called it biased. Shivaji Nagar MLA Siddharth Shirole said, “In the previous lockdown as well as this lockdown Pune city was considered a separate administrative unit. As of now, Pune city is at level 3 and Pune rural is at level four, as per the state government’s earlier orders. However, now the city and rural parts are being compared on the same lines. How can a small taluka like Indapur or Mulshi be compared with the state’s largest city, which is Pune. We agree that there could be surges again and that there could be a floating population between the city and the rural areas, however, the city has always responded to lockdowns since March 2020. If cases surge once again, then we will draw back, but at least for now, people could have some business for a month at least.”
{{/usCountry}}