Dist continues to have lowest positivity rate

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 12

Ludhiana, which has been credited with making a remarkable turnaround from being the worst-hit to the safest district in the state, continues to remain on the top with the lowest Covid positivity rate, a key indicator of virus surge, in Punjab, the government has confirmed.

The largest district with maximum population of over 3.5 million recorded an average hit rate of 0.2 per cent in the first week of July, which was half than the state’s average positivity rate of 0.4 per cent between July 2 and 8, the official figures have revealed.

This was the lowest-ever number of virus patients reported in the district during 24 hours so far. The safe trend has been persisting for the past over a month when the district had made a remarkable turnaround by recording the daily positivity rate even below 1 per cent.

The development holds significance as Ludhiana had earlier assumed the dubious distinction of being the worst-hit district with the maximum number of daily Covid cases and deaths till May.

If it was mayhem in May when the second Covid wave had rapidly slid into a devastating crisis with the health facilities unbearably falling short, oxygen supplies running low and many dying even without seeing a doctor, June had given a sigh of relief with the signs of gradual retreat and impact of the deadly virus plateauing and the safe trend continues in July when the hit rate further dipped to as low as 0.2 per cent, which was lowest-ever, last week.

This U-turn was all the more significant as the daily positivity rate has dropped by a whopping 19.55 per cent from the highest-ever ratio of 19.57 per cent in the past almost two months. The district had touched its peak of virus surge on May 2.

The daily hit rate has been plummeting constantly since the last week of May.

Ludhiana’s positivity rate had started at a high of 18.92 per cent on the first day of May, further rising and touching its peak of 19.57 per cent on May 2.

The data analysed by the Health and Family Welfare Department, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that Fazilka and Ferozepur have left behind Mohali and have emerged the worst-hit districts in the state with the maximum hit rate of 1.1 per cent each in the past week.

Among other districts, Mohali and Bathinda stood second with 1 per cent hit rate each, followed by Mansa 0.9 per cent, Faridkot 0.8, Moga and Amritsar 0.7 each, Patiala and Pathankot 0.6 each, Hoshiarpur, Tarn Taran and Kapurthala 0.5 each, Barnala and Fatehgarh Sahib 0.4 each, Jalandhar, Ropar, Nawanshahr, Gurdaspur and Sangrur 0.3 each, and Muktsar shared the top position with Ludhiana by registering the lowest positivity rate of 0.2 per cent.

The compilation of average positivity rate in June also put Ludhiana as the safest district with the lowest figure of 0.8 per cent virus cases, which were 55.55 per cent less than the state’s average cases of 1.8 per cent from June 1 to 30.

In June, Mohali remained the worst-hit district with the state’s highest hit rate of 4.6 per cent, followed by Ferozepur 4 per cent, Fazilka 3.5, Bathinda 3.3, Mansa 2.8, Moga 2.5, Ropar and Hoshiarpur 2.3 each, Faridkot 2.2, Amritsar 2, Barnala and Patiala 1.9 each, Pathankot 1.8, Muktsar 1.7, Kapurthala 1.6, Jalandhar and Fatehgarh Sahib 1.5 each, Tarn Taran 1.4, Sangrur and Gurdaspur 1.1 each, and Nawanshahr registered the second lowest positivity rate of 0.9 per cent last month.

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