Centre praise ‘Pune model’ for drop in Covid positivity rate

Pune: On Tuesday during a media briefing, the health ministry praised Mumbai and Pune model which have successfully brought down the positivity rate

Pune: On Tuesday during a media briefing, the health ministry praised Mumbai and Pune model which have successfully brought down the positivity rate. Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, health ministry said the model helped drop the positivity rate from 41.8% to 23.4%. The district reported 7,665 Covid cases and 43 deaths due to the infection, on Tuesday, according to the state health department. The district’s progressive count went up to 0.938 million of which 0.832 million and 10,160 deaths have been declared due to the infection. Currently, 95,731 are undergoing treatment in hospitals or are in home isolation.

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Pune city reported 2,581 new cases which took the final count to 463,524 and with 18 more deaths, the toll went up to 5,889. PCMC reported 1,441 new cases which took the total to 227,235 and with two more deaths the toll went up to 1,532. Pune rural reported 3,643 new cases which took the total to 247,715 and with 23 more deaths the toll went up to 2,681.

Praising the Pune model, the health ministry stated that the model has worked effectively to bring down the positivity rate. Agarwal said, “The way in which Pune contained the upsurge of Covid-19 cases drew praise from the ministry, as a fine example that shows how containment measures can help restrict the spread of the disease. When Pune witnessed a 69.7% case positivity rate in the first week of March 2021, it started measures like night curfew, imposed from 11 pm. to 6 am. This resulted in two things, reduction in growth trajectory of Covid cases and reduction in positivity rate, as positivity rate reduced from 41.8% to 23.4 %. We have observed that strict measures like restrictions on mass gatherings and on intermingling of people along with closing of non-essential activities for a period of 15 days reduce the rate of growth of cases and cases start plateauing.”

Pune saw over 12,478 vaccinations on the day. Pune city reported 6,739 vaccinations, PCMC 1,560 and Pune rural saw 4,179 beneficiaries get the jab. Of the total vaccinations, 3,746 were of Covaxin and 8,732 of Covishield.