Positivity rate soars as testing drops

The district recorded 392 new cases of Covid-19 on Tuesday, taking the tally to 9,758, of which 2,622 are active cases. The death toll, meanwhile, rose to 201 with the state including five Covid-19 deaths that occurred in the district in its bulletin.
The number of positive cases has steadily been increasing in the district in the past one week, logging more than 2,000 cases in hardly a week. However, the number of samples being tested on the ground is yet to increase. This is despite the state government instructing the health department to increase the number of samples being collected and tested once the positivity rate crosses 10%, as it signifies a surge.
When 393 cases were reported on Monday, hardly 2,670 samples were tested across the district, taking the positivity rate to 14.72%.
The district, which was once testing 3,500 samples a day with a positivity rate of hardly 2.2%, saw its positivity rate increasing to 6.14% in July, as the number of samples that were being tested dropped.
Health department officials said they were instructed to increase the positivity rate from 3.3% (during March-July 10 period) to anywhere between 5% and 10%. Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, said, “So, we reduced the samples to 2,200 a day, recording a positivity rate of 9% by July last week and the first few days of August.”
Even when cases began increasing to more than 250, 300 and slowly close to 400 a day, the number of samples being tested remained at 2,200 a day. Data shows that 34,710 samples were tested from August 1 to 16, of which 3,906 turned positive at a positivity rate of 11.25%.
“On Monday, when the district saw 393 cases, 4,469 samples were actually tested. The samples tested on Saturday and Sunday were lesser because of the Independence Day and weekend. But we have increased the number of samples being collected to more than 4,000 a day from Monday,” the deputy director of public health said.
So far, 6,935 people have recovered from Covid-19 in the district.
Police, meanwhile, registered cases against a jewellery showroom at Gandhipuram under Section 269 and 270 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 3 of the Epidemic Diseases Act in the day, for allowing two employees with symptoms to work and spreading the virus to more than 50 people.