Ludhiana district conducts max Covid tests in Punjab

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, September 17

Ludhiana, which had made a remarkable turnaround from being the worst-hit to the safest district in the state, has excelled in conducting maximum Covid tests in Punjab, the government has confirmed.

The biggest district in terms of area and population of almost 3.5 million people conducted 1,16,378 tests during the last 14 days, which were highest testing done in any district in the state, the official figures revealed on Thursday.

The data compiled by the Health and Family Welfare Department on Thursday, a copy of which is with The Tribune, showed that Ludhiana conducted maximum 26,354 tests in the past 3 days, 57,380 in 7 days, 1,16,378 in 14 days, which accounted for 7,532 tests per million population in last 3 days, 16,400 in 7 days and 33,263 in the past 14 days.

Comparatively, no other district in the state touched the 1-lakh testing mark in the past fortnight. Ludhiana’s nearest rival was Gurdaspur with 69,700 tests, followed by Jalandhar 52,326 tests in the past 14 days.

In contrast, two districts even failed to reach the 10,000 mark. Mansa remained the laggard with the lowest of 8,354 tests, followed by Moga 9,659 tests in the past fortnight.

The average positivity rate, a key indicator of virus surge, remained 0.04 per cent in the last 14 days in the district and it dipped by half to 0.02 per cent in the last 3 days.

Among other districts, Amritsar conducted 6,233 tests in last 3 days at the rate of 2,503 per million population, 15,338 in 7 days at 6,158, 32,587 in 14 days at 13,084, Barnala 3,512 at 5,897, 8,691 at 14,594, 14,950 at 25,014, Bathinda 4,922 at 3,545, 10,371 at 7,469, 21,155 at 15,236, Faridkot 3,278 at 5,308, 6,750 at 10,931, 12,893 at 20,879, Fatehgarh Sahib 3,885 at 6,473, 7,606 at 12,673, 12,683 at 21,133, Fazilka 3,399 at 3,373, 7,413 at 7,357, 14,951 at 14,838, Ferozepur 2,618 at 2,563, 5,314 at 5,202, 10,673 at 10,449, Gurdaspur 18,407 at 11,350, 40,302 at 24,851, 69,700 at 42,979, Hoshiarpur 7,258 at 4,574, 15,492 at 9,764, 30,654 at 19,320, Jalandhar 12,332 at 5,622, 26,614 at 12,133, 52,326 at 23,854, Kapurthala 4,258 at 5,223, 9,954 at 12,211, 19,905 at 24,418, Mansa 1,697 at 2,205, 3,872 at 5,030, 8,354 at 10,853, Moga 2,221 at 2,230, 4,755 at 4,775, 9,659 at 9,700, Pathankot 3,522 at 5,205, 6,935 at 10,250, 13,832 at 20,443, Patiala 7,796 at 4,112, 16,355 at 8,627, 32,350 at 17,065, Ropar 2,417 at 3,530, 5,758 at 8,410, 11,496 at 16,792, Mohali 2,722 at 2,737, 5,501 at 5,531, 11,214 at 11,275, Sangrur 6,825 at 11,146, 14,696 at 24,001, 28,508 at 46,558, Nawanshahr 3,375 at 2,039, 7,558 at 4,565, 14,917 at 9,012, Muktsar 5,299 at 5,875, 9,237 at 10,242, 18,335 at 20,329, and Tarn Taran conducted 4,803 tests at 4,290 per million rate in last 3 days, 10,796 at 9,642 in last 7 days, and 19,659 at 17,559 in last 14 days.

Overall, Punjab conducted a total of 1,31,903 tests at the rate of 4,811 per million population in the last 3 days, 2,84,987 at 10,340 in the last 7 days, and 5,49,416 at 19,828 in the last 14 days.

When it comes to average hit rate, Amritsar recorded 0.13 per cent in last 14 days, 0.18 per cent in 7 days, and 0.1 in 3 days, Barnala 0.03, 0.05, 0.11, Bathinda 0.17, 0.19, 0.12, Faridkot 0.05, 0.03, nil, Fatehgarh Sahib 0.05, 0.04, 0.08, Fazilka 0.06, 0.09, 0.15, Ferozepur 0.12, 0.06, 0.04, Gurdaspur 0.04, 0.05, 0.05, Hoshiarpur 0.06, 0.05, 0.03, Jalandhar 0.08, 0.1, 0.03, Kapurthala 0.07, 0.11, 0.12, Mansa 0.01 and nil, Moga 0.08, 0.13, 0.14, Pathankot 0.2, 0.19, 0.17, Patiala 0.1, 0.14, 0.17, Ropar 0.13, 0.24, 0.17, Mohali 0.54, 0.78, 0.66, Sangrur 0.04, 0.05, nil, Nawanshahr 0.05, 0.04, 0.03, Muktsar 0.03, 0.02, nil, and Tarn Taran registered positivity rate of 0.03 per cent in last 14 days, and nil in last 3 days.

The state, on an average, reported 0.1 per cent hit rate in the last 14 days.

Officialspeak

“Notwithstanding the sign of gradual retreat and impact of deadly virus plateauing, we have been continuing with the extensive testing campaign under the five-pronged strategy involving test, trace, treat, vaccinate and strict adherence to Covid appropriate behaviour.” – Varinder Kumar Sharma, Deputy Commissioner

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