E-Paper
Pune’s positivity rate of Covid over 23%; private labs see sharp drop in tests
Despite the proportion of the rise in the number of cases in rural areas, the number of tests being done has not risen accordingly, say experts
For the past three days (May 11 to May 13) Pune’s positivity rate has stayed above 23 per cent which is a higher percentage considering the restrictions in place. Also, the demand for Covid tests at private labs has dropped sharply in the past few weeks.
Despite the proportion of the rise in the number of cases in rural areas, the number of tests being done has not risen accordingly, say experts.
On May 9, 37,400 tests were conducted in the district and 1,1498 were conducted in rural areas. While on May 10 at least 30,159 tests were conducted in the district out of which 7,970 were conducted in rural Pune. On May 11, 32,695 tests were conduct in the district and 10,236 in rural Pune, while on May 12 and 13, 42,233 and 38,551 tests were conducted in the district and 14,769 and 13,869 in rural areas respectively.
Pallavi Jain, managing director of Krsnaa Diagnostics, said, “We have seen a fall in the demand for Covid-19 RT-PCR tests from Pune city. While earlier in the month of March we were conducting 2,000 to 3,000 tests daily this went up drastically to 8,000-9,000 tests on a daily basis. This has now again come down to 2,000 to 3,000 tests daily.”
Pune city’s positivity rate for May 13 (18.78%), May 12 (13.81%) and May 11 (20.04%) has been lower than that of Pune rural which was about 23.70%, 23.86% and 30.83% which is much higher than the district’s overall positivity rate.
Ayush Prasad, chief executive officer (CEO) Zilla Parishad, said, “The rate of new Covid-19 cases from Pune rural is increasing just like those from other rural areas of the country. However, since last week the number of Covid-19 tests in rural Pune has also increased which will help in early detection and controlling the spread.”
