E-Paper
New hotspots emerge in Pune rural areas
Rural areas report higher positivity rate than urban parts of the district: district health officials
Pune: Rural areas of Pune district are reporting higher positivity rate than urban parts of the district, according to the district health officials. The positivity figure, the rate at which people getting tested for Covid receive positive results, in Pune district was recorded 24.51 % for the week between April 26 and May 2.
Rural parts, which accounts for 40% of around 10 million population of Pune district, recorded positivity rate of 33.09 % compared to 21.32% and 20.80% in Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) and Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits respectively.
During the week, 24,670 Covid cases were identified in rural parts against 74,534 tests conducted. The per day positivity rate in the rural parts stayed above 30% for the week, unlike the urban parts where it fluctuated between 15% and 25%.
According to the data obtained from district administration, there are currently 465 villages in Pune district which are considered hotspots. According to officials, Indapur tehsil has 64 hotspots while Velhe has only five.
According to Ayush Prasad, zilla parishad CEO, it will take another week before rural parts will start seeing a Covid case curve fall.
“The virus cases in rural areas are expected to rise in rural areas for the next five-six days as we have increased testing, and are identifying and isolating residents. We are taking steps to break the chain,” Prasad said.
The senior official said that Covid curbs will help check the rise in cases.
According to Dr Subhash Salunke, advisor to the Maharashtra government on Covid-19, the positivity rate in urban areas has been going down and rural parts will follow suit in the coming days.
“By the second or third week of May, cases will go down in Pune and Pimpri-Chinchwad. It will take another fortnight for rural areas. By June, the district will show a downward trend,” Dr Salunke had said on Monday.
Covid positivity rate of the week (April 26 - May 2)
Rural areas of Pune district report higher positivity rate than urban parts
‘Pune district
Cases: 67,658
Tests: 275,944
Positivity rate: 24.51%
Pune rural (Gram panchayat + municipal councils)
Cases: 24,670
Tests: 74,534
Positivity rate: 33.09%
PMC
Cases: 27,514
Tests: 129,023
Positivity rate: 21.32%
PCMC
Cases: 14,726
Tests: 70,791
Positivity rate: 20.80%
Hotspot villages in Pune district: 453
(Taluka-wise distribution of hotspot villages)
Indapur - 64 villages
Ambegaon 49 villages
Purandar 49
Baramati 48
Junnar 47
Shirur 46
Haveli 41
Daund 33
Khed 25
Bhor 24
Mulshi 21
Maval 13
Velhe 5
