Covid-19: PMC, PCMC testing over twice national average

Satyanarayan Iyer | TNN | Updated: Apr 28, 2020, 06:36 IST

Pune city’s positivity rate is way higher than that of Pimpri Chichwad

PUNE: The civic bodies of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad are testing more than twice the national average.
At 14 and 9 tests per 10,000 people, respectively, the tests conducted in the 7.5 million population municipal limits outweigh the national average by over two times. Government figures revealed that the number of tests nationally administered was 4.3 per 10,000 people.
The Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has so far tested over 7,300 samples for its nearly 53 lakh (including cantonment areas) population, officials privy to the process said. The Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) has tested over 2,100 samples for its nearly 22 lakh people. The rural parts of Pune have tested about 1,500 people for the remaining 30 lakh population of the district — the lowest among the three areas.
As on April 27 (Friday), 09:00am, a total of 6,65,819 samples was tested across India since the onset of corona virus in the country. For each bunch of 10,000 people, this translates to 4.3 tests.
PCMC commissioner Shravan Hardikar said, “For now the tests are manageable because as many as 25-30 contacts are being traced per known positive patient. The civic body cannot manage it if the numbers reach 100 positive patients per day. This is why the containment has to continue in the hotspots. A lot of positive patients are now being traced with travel history to the PMC limits.”
Data show that many areas in PMC are a hotspot and therefore there is a strong case for movement restrictions in PMC areas. As against the PCMC’s positivity rate (patients positive as against patients tested) of about 4%, the PMC’s positivity rate is over 15%.
“This means that the positive patients are scattered all across Pune city. We have been taking steps towards more targeted tests,” PMC commissioner Shekhar Gaikwad said.