With 649 fresh cases, Panchkula positivity rate zooms to 79.53%

Tribune News Service

Panchkula, January 17

At a whopping positivity rate of 79.53 per cent, the district recorded 649 fresh Covid cases. The reason for the “exceptionally high” positivity rate is relatively lesser number of samples taken on Sunday, said the Health Department.

Only 1,128 samples were collected yesterday, of which 312 were from outside the district, further decreasing the denominator of the district.

Dr Mankirat Murara, a spokesperson for the Health Department, said, “We don’t have the accurate denominator due to a significantly lesser number of samples taken on Sunday. And of those who were sampled, 312 were outsiders. It further decreased our denominator. Also, as it was a holiday, only symptomatic people who couldn’t resist testing, came out for sampling and turned positive. We have added yesterday’s untraced to today’s tally, which further contributed to the positivity. All these reasons led to the extremely high positivity. Hence, it doesn’t present a realistic picture.”

She said there was no reason for concern as of the 2,891 active cases, only 21 were hospitalised. “It is not even 1 per cent,” she said.

With the fresh cases, the tally has reached 37,204.

Meanwhile, the death count remained at 384.

The number of recovered persons also rose to 33,929. —

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