2L cases in April, Gurugram worst-affected

Sushil Manav

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, May 3

Haryana, where a week-long lockdown started on Monday to curb the spread of Covid, added nearly 2 lakh cases and about 1,300 fatalities between April 1 and 30.

Gurugram, which is the worst-affected district, contributed 59,540 cases during April. Faridabad, Hisar, Karnal and Sonepat districts also fuelled the sharp increase in infections.

Data issued by the Health Department showed that as on April 1, Haryana’s total Covid case count was 2,92,409, which rose to 4,87,978 on April 30, a jump of 1,95,569 cases.

The total fatalities increased from 3,164 to 4,216 during the period, it showed.

Meanwhile, half of the state’s 22 districts have been placed in the red category, which means these districts have a positivity rate ofmore than 6 per cent.

As per the WHO guidelines, the desirable positivity rate is less than 2 per cent. If it is more than six per cent, it is considered critical.

Only Nuh and Charkhi Dadri have the desirable positivity rate of less than2 per cent, whereas nine other districts have a positivity rate more than desirable but less than critical.

Meanwhile, in the past one week (April 26 to May 2), the state reported 90,569 new cases and 719 deaths. The two figures are the highest ever over the seven-day period ever since the virus broke out in the state.

The daily positivity rate remained more than 26 per cent last week. At 6.89 per cent, the cumulative positivity rate is in the critical zone.

Of the 11 districts with critical positivity rate, Faridabad has the highest positivity rate of 11.34 per cent followed by Gurugram (10.44 per cent).

Panipat (8.29 per cent), Panchkula (7.79 per cent), Karnal (7.5 per cent), Sonepat (7.42 per cent), Ambala (6.72 per cent) and Rewari (6.6 per cent) are the other districts with critical positivity rate.

“Higher positivity rate means that the state is not doing enough testing to trace and isolate Covid patients. This, in turn, is resulting in the surge,” said a doctor requesting anonymity.

Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary, Health and Family Welfare, however, said the state was already testing more than 50,000 people every day.

“The state plans to increase the testing by rapid antigen testing (RAT) kits,” he added.

With the surge in cases, the transmission rate, also termed as reproduction rate, has also shot up to 1.40, the highest since the onset of the pandemic in March last year. "The transmission rate of 1.4 means that each group of 100 patients is infecting 140 healthy people," said an expert.

Transmission rate: 1.4

With the surge in cases, the transmission rate, also termed as reproduction rate, has also shot up to 1.40, the highest since the onset of the pandemic in March last year. “The transmission rate of 1.4 means that each group of 100 patients is infecting 140 healthy people,” said an expert.

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