Pune: Increased testing rate; reduced doubling rate

Pune: As the state enters another lockdown, the measures to kick-start the economy continue. Offices have now become functional to some extent and people have begun to venture out of their homes. 

Naturally, with an increase in the movement of people and contact in public places, the number of cases has seen a spike. 

But to combat the spread of the virus during Unlock2, Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) has increased the resting rate leading to identifying more COVID-19 positive cases. This has effectively reduced the doubling rate of patients from a previous 18 days to 24 days. 

Currently, the percentage of confirmed cases per sample tested has increased to 14.93 per cent. The total testing right now is over 1.08 lakh and the daily testing capacity marks around 3,200 samples. 

According to reports, the total number of positive cases on June 28 was around 16,125 with 9,447 cured or discharged and 613 deaths. 

Along with this, the civic administration has also been able to control the mortality rate of COVID-19 patients to 3.80 per cent. This stands below the state average of 4.48 per cent but is higher than the country's mortality rate. 

Stressing on the importance of increasing the testing capacity, NCP chief Sharad Pawar, urged the civic authorities in a recently held review meeting. He spoke about the importance of identifying as many positive patients as possible to reduce the spread of the virus by isolating them. 

The Pune Municipal Corporation workers are taking all the efforts to increase the number of swab collection and has also been involving private labs to help with the testing. The administration has also decided to conduct rapid antigen tests to be able to identify cases faster.