At 12%, Gurugram’s test positivity rate highest in two months

For the sixth consecutive day, new infections in Gurugram crossed the 300-mark, taking the test positivity rate(TPR) in the district to 12% — the highest in the

For the sixth consecutive day, new infections in Gurugram crossed the 300-mark, taking the test positivity rate(TPR) in the district to 12% — the highest in the past two month. Health officials said that the strong upward trend indicates the resurgence of the infection due to the movement of people during the festive season and complacency in following precautionary norms.

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Test positivity rate is the ratio of positive cases to the total number of tests conducted. A higher TPR can mean widespread infections in the community. Data shows that weekly average positivity rate has now reached its peak in the last two months. While in August, the TPR was 9%, in September, the positivity rate had reached 10%. Over the last six days, the TPR is hovering around 12%, thereby indicating that the infection is spreading fast. On Monday, the daily positivity rate touched 13%. According to World Health Organization (WHO), the ideal TPR should be five percent at least for at least two weeks to ensure that the outbreak is under control.

Health department officials have pointed out that, starting from October 21, new cases have started crossing the 300-mark, reaching 398 on October 24. On Monday, 346 new cases were reported, taking the total number of infections in the city to 27,961. Dr Virender Yadav, chief medical officer, Gurugram, said, “The weekly positivity rate has now increased to 12%, higher than both August and September. This is due to the festival season as more people are coming out of their homes. Further, they are hardly wearing masks and following protocols of social distancing.”

Yadav said that nearly 3,000 tests are being conducted daily, with the government lab doing at least 1,200 Reverse Transcription-Polymerase Chain Reaction (RT-PCR) tests and 700 rapid antigen tests. According to him, on Sundays, testing is comparatively low as most of the labs remain closed. Yadav cautioned that the numbers are likely to increase further as patients with influenza-like illness might get infected due to change of season. “Our target is to test and track people with infection,” he said.

Due to spike in cases,hospitalisation is also on the rise. On Monday, as per the district health bulletin, 191 seriously ill patients are admitted in hospitals. Until, the last week the number fluctuated between 150-160. The Covid-19 toll has reached 204, with three deaths being recorded in the last 24 hours.