Ludhiana: Spurt in positivity rate as Covid raises head again

Nitin Jain

Ludhiana, June 15

In what appears to be a matter of concern, Covid has again started raising its head with the daily positivity rate, a key indicator of the virus surge, rising over 80% in the district during the past fortnight.

From 0 to 0.81 per cent, the hit rate has registered a phenomenal rise during the past two weeks in the district, the officials concerned said.

Also, two Covid deaths were reported in the state’s biggest and largest district, in terms of area and population, in the first fortnight of June, the official data has confirmed.

The development assumes significance as the steep increase in the count of daily virus cases and the positivity rate has been witnessed after a gap of four months.

The daily count of Covid patients in the district has been running in double digits for the past five days, which was the highest since February this year.

The last highest figure in the district during the past four months was recorded on February 15 when 30 positive cases were detected here. The last double digit count of 11 daily patients of Covid was reported here on February 27 and since then, the district had registered the daily cases in single digit with no case reported on several days together for a long time.

Since June 11, the district has been witnessing daily Covid patients in double digit from 13 on June 11 to 10 on June 12, 15 on June 13 and 17 each on June 14 and 15.

Similarly, the daily hit rate touched a record high of 0.81 per cent on June 13, which was the highest after February 10 when Ludhiana had reported the positivity rate of 1.11 per cent. Since then, the key indicator of the virus surge had remained below 0.69 per cent and it even touched nil on so many days during the past four months.

Ludhiana reported one Covid death each on June 3 and 6 during the past fortnight while the daily sampling ranged between 1,800 and 3,500.

‘Situation is well under control’

We have been continuing with aggressive sampling to test, trace and treat the virus cases on a daily basis. Though the situation is well under control and there is no need to panic, the residents are advised to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour by wearing masks in public places, maintaining social distance and exercising hand hygiene as a precautionary measure. – Surabhi Malik, DC