Covid-19 positivity rate at 5.20%: Centre

NEW DELHI: India has registered a record in the number of Covid-19 cumulative tests, with over 210 million samples tested, the Union health ministry said on Monday. The country’s national positivity rate is pegged at 5.20%.

Progressive countrywide expansion in testing infrastructure has played a crucial role in the steep rise of testing numbers, the ministry underlined.

With 2,393 testing labs in the country including 1,220 government laboratories and 1,173 private laboratories, the daily testing capacity has got a substantial boost. “India’s cumulative national positivity rate is presently pegged at 5.20%,” the ministry said. A total of 6,20,216 tests were conducted in a span of 24 hours. “The number of beneficiaries being tested per million every day has shown a consistent and progressive increase. India’s tests per million stand at 1,53,298.4 as on date,” the ministry said. Till February 22, the vaccination coverage was 1,11,16,854 through 2,32,317 sessions, as per the provisional report. These include 63,97,849 health care workers (HCWs 1st dose), 9,67,852 HCWs (2nd dose) and 37,51,153 frontline workers (FLW 1st dose).

The 2nd dose of vaccination started on February 13 for those beneficiaries who have completed 28 days after receipt of the 1st dose. Vaccination of the FLWs started on February 2.

As on day-37 of the vaccination drive (February 21), 31,681 vaccine doses were given. Out of which, 24,471 beneficiaries were vaccinated across 1,429 sessions for 1st dose (HCWs and FLWs) and 7,210 HCWs received 2nd dose of vaccine. Out of total 1,11,16,854 doses, 1,01,49,002 (HCWs and FLWs) received 1st dose of vaccine and total 9,67,852 HCWs received 2nd dose of vaccine, the ministry said. It said 60.17 % of the total doses are concentrated in seven states. Karnataka alone accounts for 11.8 per cent (1,14,043 doses).