State’s positivity rate jumps 36% in 2 weeks

Out of 22 districts, nine on Monday recorded positivity rate of more than 10%

CHANDIGARH: With Covid-19 spreading its wings wide and fast in the second wave, Punjab’s daily positivity rate has jumped by nearly 36% in the past fifteen days from nearly 7.8% to 10.6% as on Monday.

Maximum and the highest ever positivity rate (12.6%) the state witnessed was on April 15, as per the information gathered from the health department, when a record 4,333 cases were witnessed out of 34,409 tests conducted.

On other days, in the last one week, state’s positivity rate has remained more than 10%, meaning of every 100 samples tested for the virus, 10 were found positive.

Punjab’s single day spike touched a new high of 4,957 cases on Sunday but state’s positivity rate remained 10.49% as tests conducted on the day were also the highest (47,247).

Punjab’s overall positivity rate till date remained around 4.5% but there is no district at present which is showing less than 5% of positivity rate as on

Monday. Muktsar has the highest positivity rate of 27.10% in the state, whereas Ferozepur has the lowest (5.7%).

Of Punjab’s 22 districts, nine districts — SAS Nagar, Ludhiana, Pathankot, Faridkot, Fazilka, Muktsar, Fatehgarh Sahib, Tarn Taran, Moga and Mansa — on Monday recorded positivity rate of more than 10%.

State’s nodal officer for Covid-19 Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said state’s positivity has increased in past few days but the good thing is that it has remained constant at around 10% when the state is moving towards peak. “The best thing is we have been utilising most of our testing capacities with around 45,000 tests being done daily,” said the nodal officer.

Situation grim in Mohali SAS Nagar (Mohali) district has emerged as the biggest concern for the health authorities in past one week, with the district on Sunday witnessing around 36.53% of positivity rate, as per health functionaries.

On Monday, Mohali’s positivity rate was 21.10% with the district witnessing 792 cases, maximum for any district.

“There have been a few questions over the low testing in the district in past few days and now the district administration has been asked to ramp it up. On Monday, some fresh instructions were passed on to the district administration to implement the restrictions strictly and increase testing,” a senior health department functionary said.

MAXIMUM AND THE HIGHEST- EVER POSITIVITY RATE OF 12.6% THE STATE WITNESSED WAS ON APRIL 15