E-Paper
Pune’s weekly positivity rate at 23% after wari
Daily positivity rate of Pune district reached 20% on Tuesday, indicating a gradual rise Covid cases
The daily positivity rate of Pune district reached 20% on Tuesday, indicating a gradual rise Covid cases. According to state health department report, the weekly positivity rate from June 15-21 was 13.87 %, it rose to 22.86 % from June 22-28.
Experts and health department officials attributed the rise to more people stepping out and big events such as Wari, an annual procession in which around three lakh people participated last week. However, most of the cases are asymptomatic and require no hospitalisation.
According to Dr Subhash Salunkhe, member of the state Covid task force, there is a rise in cases as people are not taking basic precautions. “With festivals coming up, people are attending and hosting numerous events, without precaution. Hence, infection is bound to increase,” he said.
Maharashtra has a positivity rate of 12%. With 23%, Pune district has the highest positivity rate, followed by Thane at 15.80% and Mumbai at 16.37%.
Dr Pradeep Awate, state surveillance officer, said, “We have increased testing, which results to higher positivity rate. The testing was reduced a few days ago, which lead to a rise in asymptomatic patients. In comparison to the positivity rate, the hospital admission rate is only 4-4.5%.”
“The process of genome sequencing is continuous and our main priority now is to increase testing. There are also chances of an increase in transmission rate as lakhs of people are passing through Pune district, Satara via Solapur to Pandharpur for the Ashadhi Wari,” he added.
On Wednesday, Pune district reported 820 new cases and no deaths. Officials said that the number of tests have increased in Pune city, with 2,000 samples being tested per day, as compared to 1,000 samples being tested earlier.
“We have increased the centres for the testing, earlier we had only 8 centres and no we have 12. Sassoon and Naidu hospitals are also ready incase there are more hospitalisations. Currently, most cases are mild,” said Dr Sanjeev Wavare, assistant health chief at the health department of the PMC.
2 test positive among warkaris
Out of the 782 warkaris who had flu symptoms, 2 were tested Covid positive, said officials.
With wari passing through the district, the rural Pune administration had provided OPDs on wheels through which, health check-ups of 71,361 warkaris was done.
“We conducted Covid tests of all those who showed flu-like symptoms. A vaccination drive was also organised and 916 warkaris were jabbed,” said Ayush Prasad Pune, Zilla Parishad, CEO.
For wari, ZP had appointed a team of 110 doctors, 104 supporting staff and 336 health officials.
“The covid case is in control in a rural area and there is nothing to panic about. We are ready with all the health measures if required,” added Prasad.
