Covid positivity rate shoots up to 1.3% in a week in Himachal
DHARAMSHALA: The Covid-19 positivity rate rose by 0.5% in Himachal Pradesh over the past week as the hill state sees a spike in new coronavirus infections.
The state recorded a positivity rate of 1.3% in the July 26 to August 1 week, according to the state health department. The positivity rate was 0.8% during the week before that.
A spokesperson for the Himachal Pradesh NHM said that the state saw a 64% increase in fresh infections last week as compared to the July 19-25 week.
Mandi registers highest positivity rate of 4.2%
Mandi district is emerging as a hotspot as it registered the highest positivity rate of 4.2% with a total of 276 positive cases out of a total of 6,543 tested samples.
Kullu is second in the tally with a positivity rate of 2.4%. A total of 4,009 tests were done in the district of which 97 turned out positive.
Chamba and Lahaul-Spiti were third with a positivity rate of 2.2%. A total of 10,151 samples were tested in Chamba of which 226 were found positive, second in terms of absolute numbers.
Comparatively, the number of tests conducted in Lahaul-Spiti was significantly low. Of the 499 samples tested, 11 turned out positive in the tribal district.
It was followed by Chamba where 8,701 samples were sent for testing and 175 were found positive with a positivity rate of 2%. Shimla recorded a positivity rate of 1.6% and Kangra 1.1%. In the remaining five districts, the positivity rate is below 1%.
Sirmaur logged the lowest positivity rate of 0.2% with 12 people found positive out of the 7,931 tested.
Meanwhile, Himachal on Tuesday recorded 220 fresh Covid cases taking the state’s tally to 2,06,589, while death toll mounted to 3,507 after one patient succumbed to the contagion. The active cases have climbed to 1,414 while recoveries reached 2,01,628 after 108 people recuperated.
J&K recorded 140 new infections, taking the number of infected people to 3,21,865, while three fatalities due to the disease pushed the toll to 4,384, officials said. The number of active cases rose slightly to 1,293 in the UT, while 3,16,188 patients have recovered so far.