6 more Haryana districts attain critical tag as contagion statistics get grim

CHANDIGARH: Six more districts in Haryana have joined Faridabad, Gurugram, Sonepat and Rewari this week for having more than 200 coronavirus active cases and more than 15 active cases per lakh population, both critical values as per the parameters recommended by the Union health ministry.

Health officials said this indicated that contagion spread is picking up in other parts of the state besides the national capital region (NCR).

The newly marked critical districts having over 200 active cases are Hisar, Rohtak and Ambala while Jhajjar, Mahendragrah, Panipat and Rohtak have bagged the critical tag for having more than 15 active cases per lakh population, as per the health department statistics.

Another worrying aspect is that the doubling rate for infection, which is calculated over a seven-day period, has fallen below the critical value of less than 14 days in five districts for the first time since the outbreak. These are Hisar (10.3 days), Mahendergarh (13.8 days), Panipat (10.8 days), Rewari (11.1 days) and Sirsa (13.6 days).

While the sample positivity rate, which reveals the number of positive cases per sample tested, has increased since July 5 in three NCR districts, there have been no new additions in the number of districts displaying critical value of over 6% positivity rate. The sample positivity rate in Faridabad has increased to 14.2% from 12.9%. In Rewari, it has gone up to 9.2% from 7% and in Sonepat, the increase is 6.9% from 6.8%. The rate, however, came down from 11.8% to 9.8% in Gurugram this week. Bhiwani with a sample positivity rate of 5.9% and Jhajjar with 5.5% are closing in to cross the 6% critical mark.

However, additional chief secretary (ACS), health, Rajeev Arora, said Haryana’s recovery rate of infected cases is over 75% and the fatality rate has come down to 1.38%. “Those two aspects and the fact that active cases are in and around 5,000 per day matter the most,” he said.

ANTIGEN TESTING POSITIVITY RATE LOWER

Following central government’s diktat, the state government had increased the Standard Q Covid-19 antigen detection testing in the five troublesome NCR districts of Gurugram, Faridabad, Sonepat, Jhajjar and Rohtak.

More than 15,000 antigen tests have been done in Gurugram with a positivity rate of 3.5%. The antigen positivity rate in Faridabad has been 8.4% while it is 4.9% in Sonepat, 2.3% in Jhajjar and 1.4% in Rohtak, as per the last week’s statistics.

The ACS said the fact that the positivity rate is low in the NCR districts despite increased antigen testing is an encouraging sign. “Now, all the districts have started the antigen testing. We are also buying two lakh more antigen testing kits,” Arora said.

SOME RELIEF AS RECOVERY RATE GOES PAST 75% AND FATALITY RATE DROPS TO 1.38%, SAYS ACS, HEALTH