Punjab’s positivity rate up, but still below national average

CHANDIGARH : Even as Punjab’s Covid-19 positivity rate witnessed a jump from 3.8% to 5.7% in a month, it is still well below the national average of 8.7%.

The positivity rate is an indicator of the prevalence of infection as it reflects the proportion of people who are found positive among those tested.

Though the increase by almost 2% signals virus spreading its tentacles in Punjab, experts say the state got relief in the last 15 days when the rate slowed down even as daily testing went up.

In the first week of the month, the state was conducting 15,000 tests per day which has now increased to 25,000-30,000.

“If the virus was spreading at a great pace, increase in testing should have resulted in a jump in positivity rate also,” said state Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar. In last fortnight, the state tested more than 3.2 lakh samples of which 25,687 people turned out to be positive with a positivity rate of 7.5%.

“Punjab is better placed than many states like Delhi, Maharashtra, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh,” said the nodal officer.

The issue of high case fatality rate (CFR) in Punjab was discussed at length in a special meeting of the state’s experts called on the direction of the health minister.

The meeting was convened after Punjab surpassed all worsthit states by registering a CFR of 2.96%.