Ludhiana records lowest rapid antigen test positivity rate

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, July 16

Ludhiana, which has also been leading the state in conducting the highest Covid tests, has recorded the lowest positivity rate in the rapid antigen tests (RAT) and the fifth lowest in the RT-PCR tests conducted during the past month, the government has confirmed.

The district’s RAT positivity rate was recorded lowest at 0.3 per cent, which was almost one-third than the state’s average of 1 per cent, while the RT-PCR positivity rate was 1.7 per cent, which was 32 per cent less than the state’s average of 2.5 per cent in June, the official figures have revealed.

Ludhiana, which had made a remarkable turnaround from being the worst-hit to the safest district in the state, had recorded the overall lowest hit rate of 0.8 per cent in June, which was 55.55 per cent less than the state’s average positivity rate of 1.8 per cent. The district’s positivity rate had further dropped drastically to touch a new record low of 0.2 per cent in the first week of July, which was half than the state’s average of 0.4 per cent.

The data analysed by the Health and Family Welfare Department, which is available with The Tribune, showed that 62 per cent of the total Covid tests conducted in Ludhiana during June were RAT, which was 11 per cent higher than the state’s average of 51 per cent RAT tests conducted last month.

While Ludhiana ranked fifth in conducting the RAT tests, Muktsar topped the state with a maximum of 80 per cent RAT tests, followed by Moga 76 per cent, Ferozepur and Fazilka 66 per cent each.

Among other districts, Kapurthala conducted 59 per cent RAT tests, Faridkot 58, Patiala 57, Amritsar 54, Bathinda 52, Fatehgarh Sahib and Barnala 51 per cent each, Sangrur 47, Jalandhar 45, Gurdaspur 42, Mansa 35, Pathankot 34, Tarn Taran and Hoshiarpur 33 per cent each, Nawanshahr 29, and Mohali conducted the minimum of 26 per cent RAT tests in the state last month.

On the RAT positivity rate front, Bathinda topped the state with the maximum of 3.3 per cent RAT tests turning positive, followed by Ferozepur 2.6, Fazilka, Moga, and Mansa 2 per cent each, Faridkot 1.9, Pathankot 1.8, Tarn Taran 1.6, Muktsar and Barnala 1.5 per cent each, Mohali 1.2, Jalandhar, Patiala, and Ropar 1 per cent each, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur 0.9 per cent each, Fatehgarh Sahib, Kapurthala, Nawanshahr, and Sangrur 0.7 per cent each, while Amritsar shared the lowest RAT positivity rate of 0.3 per cent with Ludhiana in the state last month.

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