Covid positivity rate in Haryana jumps from 2% to 5.6% in month

‘SITUATION UNDER CONTROL’ Director health services attributes the surge to aggressive testing; state sees improvement in recovery

CHANDIGARH: The coronavirus disease (Covid-19) positivity rate in Haryana has risen from 2.01% as seen on June 1 to 5.56% on Monday, when 381 fresh cases were registered in the state and nine patients succumbed to the disease, health department’s data revealed.

The national average is around 6.5%.Health experts say the rate of Covid-19 positivity is a significant factor that gives an insight into whether the tests in enough numbers are being conducted to detect the contagion.

On June 1, the total number of samples Haryana health department had sent for examination till then was 1,21,779, while on June 29, the number stood at 2,60,341. Hence, Haryana in 29 days tested about 1,38,562 people.

On an average, at least 5,000 fresh samples are sent everyday for testing in the state. On Monday, 7,985 samples were collected across Haryana.

Dr Suraj Bhan Kamboj, director health services, Haryana, said the Covid-19 positivity rate is the ratio of positive cases to the number of tests conducted.

“Undoubtedly, the Covid-19 positivity rate in Haryana is rising, but the fact is we have also increased the testing due to which more cases are being detected,” Dr Kamboj said.

“There is no need to worry. The situation is better and well under control even as there is a surge in cases,” he added. Another positive factor in the battle against Covid-19, Dr Kamboj said, is that more than 50% cases in the state are either asymptomatic or showing mild symptoms.“In the beginning, we were sending samples to Pune, but now we have five government medical colleges and three district hospitals besides two labs in Hisar and Faridabad where samples are being tested,” he added.

As per the data, on June 21, the state’s Covid-19 positivity rate was 5% and since then, it swiftly rose to 5.59% – the highest so far – on June 28 and dipped mildly to 5.56% on Monday. The recovery rate on June 1 was 44.78%, which by June 29 had risen to 66.87%. Also, the Covid-19 doubling rate has shown improvement as on Monday, it went up to 15 days after falling to an all-time low of six days on June 2.