At 15%, Chandigarh's positivity rate second-highest in country

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, October 11

Even though the UT is witnessing decline in cases for the past two weeks, its test positivity rate (TPR) of is still higher at 15 per cent and the second-highest in the country after Maharashtra, which has the TPR of 20 per cent.

On May 12, the World Health Organization advised governments that before reopening, positivity rate should remain at 5 per cent or lower for at least 14 days.

Punjab, on the other hand, has stemmed the TPR to 5.8 per cent with increased testing.

Dr KK Talwar, Health Adviser to Punjab Government and former head of PGI, said, “We are conducting around 30,000 tests every day. The testing capacity has been increased by adding more manpower and machinery. We started on-demand testing in government hospitals. We are effectively carrying out testing in micro-containment zones.”

He said it would be a good indication if the number of tests had been constant over a period of time but the positivity rate had come down. At least 10 contacts of each Covid positive person should be traced and tested.

According to experts, the testing strategy should move beyond close contacts. The epidemic control requires detecting even minor symptoms and testing the immediate contacts of those found infected or catching anyone who may have been exposed, including asymptomatic.

Dr Prabhakaran Dorairaj, Vice-President (research and policy) and Director, Centre for Control of Chronic Conditions at Public Health Foundation of India, said, “A TPR of 5 per cent indicate that the disease occurrence is coming down. As epidemic starts declining, the number of people coming for the Covid test will also decline due to stigma attached to the disease. We must try to test every suspected patient, even those with minor symptoms..”

In epidemiology, a high positivity rate indicate that the state is only testing the sickest patients, who seek medical attention, and is not casting a wide enough net to know how much the virus is spreading in the community. A low positivity rate is a sign that a state has sufficient testing capacity for the size of their outbreak and is testing enough of its population.

Voluntary testing encouraged in UT: DHS

For Chandigarh, stepping up testing will be a real challenge in the wake of declining number of new cases as residents have stopped coming forward to get tested for Covid. Dr Amandeep Kang, Director Health Services, UT, said, “We have stepped up testing again. For the past three days, we have been conducting 1,000 tests a day. We are encouraging voluntary testing in clusters where the density of population is high. Our mobile teams are ready for it as the infection load in hospitals has reduced. The only way to keep the minimum tests to 1,000 per day is to urge residents to come forward so that we are able to track asymptomatic people and trace their contacts.”