Positivity rate drops to 6.6%, lowest in 2 months

It is for the first time in the past one month that none of the districts registered more than 15% positivity rate

CHANDIGARH: Even as the number of deaths in Punjab crossed the 200 mark once again on Saturday, the positivity rate in the state has halved in the past ten days.

Positive rate is the true indicator of the growth or decline in the spread of an infection, as it is the proportion of people testing positive among all those sampled.

On Saturday, the state registered lowest positivity rate in the past two months, with only 6.6% of the samples tested for the virus found positive, as compared to 14.2% on May 12, which was the highest. This drop is coupled with a record 82,097 tests conducted on Saturday.

Moreover, it is for the first time in the past one month that none of the districts registered more than 15% positivity rate. Only two districts, Pathankot (10.37%) and Fazilka (10.39%), registered more than 10% positivity rate.

In a big sigh of relief, the industrial town of Ludhiana, which at one point was registering highest positivity rate, recorded just 3.9%, lowest after SBS Nagar.

5,421 cases, 201 deaths Meanwhile, the state registered 5,421 fresh cases while 7,363 people recovered from the virus and 201 succumbed to it, bringing down the active case load, according to a media bulletin released by the state government.

Among the fresh cases, 582 surfaced in Ludhiana, followed by 555 in Mohali, 445 in Jalandhar, 411 in Bathinda, 400 in Amritsar, 363 in Patiala and 305 in Muktsar.

Bathinda and Patiala registered maximum 20 deaths each, followed by 19 in Amritsar, 17 in Ludhiana, 12 each in Fazilka and Amritsar and nine each in Faridkot, Sangrur and Jalandhar. As many as 7,280 persons were on oxygen support while 381 were on ventilator support on Saturday evening. A total of 86,36,245 samples have been collected for testing so far in the state, the bulletin said.

Sampling in 31 Kapurthala villages JALANDHAR: The Kapurthala district administration conducted sampling in 31 villages on Saturday to curb the virus spread in rural areas.

Deputy commissioner Deepti Uppal said under the campaign, testing will be conducted in all 618 villages of the district.

Health, Asha workers and ANMS are going door to door to collect information about the health condition of the people.

Testing is being done by setting up camps at common places in each village.