Covid postivity rate doubles, highest-ever in two weeks
TPR touches 16.7% even as the weekly average reaches 14.3% breaking the records of last year
NEW DELHI : India’s Covid-19 test positivity rate – a key indicator of the on-the-ground spread of the disease – has soared to the highest ever and has now doubled in less than two weeks, even as the country yet again set new singleday records with more than 275,000 new cases and 1,600 new deaths on Sunday, amid reports of shortages of crucial drugs and oxygen as the second wave continued its relentless expansion.
A total of 275,482 new infections were lodged on Sunday, taking the total number of confirmed cases past the 15 million mark, even as daily deaths touched a record 1,622, according to HT’S Covid-19 dashboard.
India’s testing positivity rate (TPR) – the proportion of samples returning positive for Covid-19 – touched 16.7% on Saturday, as the weekly average touched 14.3%, both the highest ever and are the latest in a series of grim milestones that the second wave of the outbreak is leaving in its wake. The previous record for highest daily positivity rate was lodged on July 19, 2020, when it touched 15.7%, and the old record for weekly positivity rate was 12.5% for the week ending July 15.
A positivity rate of 16.7% means that one out of every six samples being tested returned positive, a very high proportion for a country the size of India. And this number is even higher when looked at certain states and UTS. In Chhattisgarh, Delhi and Goa, for instance, one out of every three tests was positive, and in Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, one in every four was positive. “Chhattisgarh reported the highest weekly positivity rate among states at 30.4%... India’s daily new cases continue to rise… Sixteen states are displaying an upward trajectory in daily new cases,” said Union health ministry in a statement.
Experts say that it is crucial that the chain of transmission be broken. “The most important thing at the moment is that transmission chain has to be broken... Also, extra measures need to be taken to curb superspreader events,” said Dr K Srinath Reddy, senior public health expert, founder, Public Health Foundation of India.
The rising cases have also led to increased demand for beds, medical oxygen, and the antiviral drug remdesivir, with people finding it hard to get any of these.
On Friday, Union health ministry sent out an advisory asking all central ministries to issue instructions to hospitals and public sector undertakings (PSUS) under their control to set up exclusive dedicated hospital wards or separate blocks within the hospitals for Covid care.