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Positivity rate in 42% of total districts higher than national average: ICMR
At least 26 states are showing a case positivity rate of 15% and above; six states are reporting between 5 and 15%, and only four states currently have a positivity rate of 5% or less.
As high as 42% of the country’s 733 districts are reporting a Covid-19 test positivity rate of more than the national average of about 21%, officials said on Tuesday, underscoring the need for containment efforts to be further tightened across the country.
At least 26 states are showing a case positivity rate of 15% and above; six states are reporting between 5 and 15%, and only four states currently have a positivity rate of 5% or less,lower than the World Health Organisation-defined threshold for an outbreak to be considered as under control. The positivity rate is the proportion of positive samples among those tested in a day.
“India is facing a massive surge of Covid-19 cases… and the national positivity rate is around 20-21%. And about 42% of the districts, which is about 310, are reporting more than the national average,” said Dr Balram Bhargava, director general, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), during the Covid-19 media briefing on Tuesday.
“If you look at the India numbers, then we find high case positivity rate of 25% and above in 9 states, and about 10 states have the case positivity rate between 20 and 25%. Government of India is in constant touch with these states to look at effective ways through which disease transmission can be curtailed,” said Lav Agarwal, joint secretary, Union health ministry.
Among the top 5 states in terms of high case positivity rate are Goa (49.6%), Puducherry (42.8%), West Bengal (34.4%), Haryana (34.3%), and Karnataka (32.4%).
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According to experts in the government, early testing, isolation, and home-based care is the key to break the disease transmission cycle.
The country’s RT-PCR testing—the gold standard to detect Covid-19— capacity is 1.6 million per day, and rapid antigen testing capacity is around 1.7 million tests per day, the official added. There are about 2,520 laboratories across the country doing Covid-19 testing.
“The laboratories have been working literally 24x7 to meet the testing demand. Despite infection among lab staff, test performance is still being maintained. In April-May we are doing on an average of about 16-20 lakh RT-PCR and Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) combined. We have recently come out with a revised Covid-19 testing advisory. Sometimes we have to wait for the results so that is a bit of a problem, and that is why we have come out with the revised advisory, and given it to all the states also,” said Dr Bhargava.
The official said the ICMR has done three things to cope with the current wave: rationalise RT-PCR testing to meet the excessive demand; Covid-19 tests approved by reputed global agencies have been accorded marketing permission by Drugs Controller General of India, VG Somani; and RAT (rapid antigen) testing has been increased for early detection, isolation and home care.
Bhargava also mentioned that ICMR was exploring home based testing solutions to detect Covid-19.
Experts say that RAT is good at detecting positive cases, and can be deployed to test symptomatic individuals for Covid-19.
“During high case load that we are seeing now, RAT can be deployed to get faster results, which is what is the need of the hour. We cannot afford to wait for days for a test report to arrive. So, sooner a positive person is isolated, the better it is in curtailing the chain of transmission. In fact, those who get symptoms should simply isolate themselves, and not wait for the test report to come,” said Jugal Kishore, head, community medicine department, Safdarjung Hospital.
