Ludhiana district turns safest from worst-affected in state

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, June 11

It’s official! Ludhiana has turned into the safest district in Punjab. Having assumed the dubious distinction of being the worst-hit district with the maximum number of daily Covid cases and deaths till last month, Ludhiana has made a remarkable turnaround by recording the lowest daily positivity rate, a key indicator of virus surge, even below 1 per cent.

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 gave a sigh of relief with the signs of gradual retreat and impact of deadly virus plateauing.

The data compiled by the Health and Family Welfare Department, a copy of which is with The Tribune, revealed that Ludhiana’s average daily Covid positivity rate remained lowest at 1.6 per cent in the state last week. While the district’s average daily positivity rate was half than the state’s average of 3.2 per cent, it was more than four-times less than Mohali’s ratio of 6.9 per cent, which was highest in the state from May 31 to June 6.

The safe state of Ludhiana continued in the current week as well with the district’s average daily Covid positivity rate further dropping to 1.1 per cent on June 7, which was less than half of the state’s average of 2.57 per cent. On June 8, the ratio of positive cases fell even below 1 per cent at 0.98 per cent, lowest in four months after 0.99 per cent recorded here on February 7. This was again almost three-times less than the state’s average of 2.47 per cent.

The hit rate further dipped to 0.87 per cent on June 9, which was lowest in almost five months after 0.87 per cent registered on January 18. This was also almost three-times less than the state’s average of 2.29 per cent.

On Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday also, Ludhiana’s daily positivity rate remained lowest in Punjab.

However, the ratio slightly went up to 1.07 per cent on June 10 and 1.19 per cent on June 11, which was still almost half than the state’s average of 2.36 per cent.

This U-turn was all the more significant as the daily positivity rate has dropped by a whopping 18.73 per cent from the highest-ever ratio of 19.57 per cent in little over a month. The district had touched its peak of virus surge on May 2.

The data compiled by the district administration, which is available with The Tribune, revealed that 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 analysis of weekly average positivity rate showed that Ludhiana reported 4.3 per cent positivity rate between May 20 and 26, which was almost half of 7.3 per cent positivity rate recorded in the district between May 13 and 19.

From the sixth lowest positivity rate in the state and almost one-third less than state’s average of 10.7 per cent between May 13 and 19, and the fifth lowest with 2.3 per cent less than the state average of 6.6 per cent between May 20 and 26, Ludhiana’s hit rate not only turned out to be the lowest at 1.6 per cent in the state but also half of Punjab’s average of 3.2 per cent between May 31 and June 6.

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