Pune: As per the state health department report, only five out of the 36 districts in the state report a higher than state average weekly positivity rate. These districts include Pune, Akola, Nashik, Raigad and Thane with 29.4%. The state has reported a positivity rate of 22.9%. Despite Mumbai reporting the highest number of Covid cases in the week between January 10 and January 16 — more than 88,000 new cases of the 0.3 million cases reported in the state — Pune has reported about 64,000 and Thane 53,000.
State surveillance officer Dr Pradeep Awate said that sudden rise and fall in Covid cases reported in Mumbai might not be applicable to all the districts in the state. He said, “The positivity rate of a district informs what percentage of the population which has been tested is infected. In the first wave, the average state positivity peaked at 24.86% which then in the second wave peaked at 26% and then in the third wave peaked at 32% which means that three out of every 10 people tested will report to be positive and then the curve will begin to decline. We have seen in Mumbai that the positivity rate peaked at around 35%-36% and it is declining now. Multiple factors have to be considered like Omicron is the most transmissible variant, breakthrough infections, herd immunity and others.”
On underreporting of coronavirus cases, Awate said the administration has appealed to the people to voluntarily upload their Covid-19 reports on the website so that the local health authorities can help them in case of any need. “We have also asked chemists to keep a record of all the home test kits which they have sold by noting down the details of purchaser,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}On underreporting of coronavirus cases, Awate said the administration has appealed to the people to voluntarily upload their Covid-19 reports on the website so that the local health authorities can help them in case of any need. “We have also asked chemists to keep a record of all the home test kits which they have sold by noting down the details of purchaser,” he said.
{{/usCountry}}Awate said, “We have to also remember that after two Covid waves, the uninfected population is very low. The epidemiological curve will depend on multiple local factors like population density and vaccination. If a region has seen a much milder second or first wave then it is likely that the virus may linger on for a while before it starts declining which we saw in the second wave and previous waves when Kolhapur and Sangli saw a much slow decline. Multiple factors will influence the epidemiological curves in the areas.”
In the past one week between January 10 January and January 16, the state reported a weekly average positivity rate of 22.9% as the state reported over 1,345,494 cases of the 308,376 samples that were tested. The highest positivity rate was reported from Nashik with about 35.4% followed by Pune (34.2%) with about 64,807 new cases. This is as high as the city reported during the second wave peak. Thane reported a positivity rate of 29.4%, Raigad 28.3% and Akola 27.7%.
Mumbai which saw a drastic surge in new Covid cases in the past two weeks has reported a drop in the positivity rate of lower than the state average at 21.8% as 407,123 samples were tested of which 88,610 positive cases were reported. The above districts are reporting a drastic surge in active cases, however, the number of mortalities is not surging much as of yet.