Testing in NCR rose gradually, but Covid cases went up much faster

GURUGRAM: While the average weekly sample collection in NCR cities has gone up just a notch, increasing gradually, the number of Covid-19 cases has seen a much sharper rise over the past fortnight. More samples among those who were tested were positive.
Haryana is testing more people than states that have been witnessing massive surges. The state is conducting 5,506 tests per million, Delhi is conducting 2,018 and Maharashtra 4,177. The national average is 3,344. But more people in the state’s NCR cities are testing positive as well. Gurugram saw the sharpest spike in positivity rate (ratio of positive cases to the number of tests) — from 0.97% in April to 5.7% in May and 9.97% in the first week of June. In Faridabad, positivity rate went from 1.83% in April to 3.01% in May and is 4.3% now. In Jhajjar, it went from 1.6% to 2.5% between April and May and is at 2.7% now. Sonipat’s positivity rate went straight from 0.52% to 2.8% and then 3.33%.
Since May 26, Gurugram has been adding 100-odd cases every day. In the last four days alone, it has added more than 500 new cases. “The number of Covid-19 cases in Gurugram is going up because we are conducting more tests. People are travelling and getting exposed to the virus more,” a Gurugram health department official said. But the increase in tests and the increase in cases has not been proportionate.
The weekly average number of samples collected in this period did go up, marginally, in Gurugram (from 1,450 in April to 1,889 in May) and Jhajjar (from 1,723 to 1,972). The increase was much larger in Faridabad (from 247 to 2,359) and Sonipat (from 214 to 2,385) between April and May. But during this latest surge, most of which has been in the first week of June, the average sample collection actually dipped in three of the four districts — down to 1,123 in Faridabad, 623 in Jhajjar and just 409 in Sonipat. Only Gurugram saw a slight increase — to 2,255. The number of tests, in any case, does not translate into the number of people tested because each person is tested more than once.
Jhajjar and Sonipat attributed the increase in cases to the Delhi connection. Jhajjar chief medical officer Randeep Singh Poonia said it had to do with the mandi and government staff members who work in Delhi and Sonipat chief medical officer BK Rajora said most cases had Delhi links.
With 129 more cases, Gurugram is leading the state’s Covid count. It has 1,692 cases. Faridabad has 620 (it has the second highest), followed by Sonipat (350) and Jhajjar (107). Exactly half the state’s active cases are also in Gurugram — 1,345 of 2,648. Faridabad has 427 active cases, Sonipat 185 and Jhajjar 11.