As per data from the daily health bulletins, Gurgaon saw 2,833 fresh cases in all of August, out of 61,132 people tested for the infection. (Express Archive)

While Gurgaon recorded around 2,800 Covid-19 cases in August, new cases have seen an uptick this month, with the district recording over 1,900 fresh cases in the first eight days of September. The total number of tests conducted so far in September is around one-third the total tests conducted in August.

As per data from the daily health bulletins, Gurgaon saw 2,833 fresh cases in all of August, out of 61,132 people tested for the infection. From September 1-8, the district recorded 1,922 fresh cases from 21,886 tests. Gurgaon also witnessed seven deaths in September, against 10 fatalities in August.

Data from the last four weeks shows that the number of cases has increased consistently, with 537 cases being recorded between August 10 and 16; 708 between August 17 and 23; 833 cases between August 24 and 30; and almost doubling to 1,517 last week. The number of tests, however, has not similarly increased, falling from 14,232 between August 10 and 16 to 12,470 the next week, rising to 15,521 between August 24 and 30, followed by a further marginal increase to 16,506 in the subsequent week. The compounded daily growth rate of the infection has also doubled in the last four weeks from 0.79 % between August 10 and August 17 to 1.74 % as of last week.

Officials have repeatedly said the spike in Gurgaon is caused by an “increased amount of laxity among people”. “We plan to ramp up testing, information, education and communication campaigns. Strict enforcement and challaning and demarcation of containment zones is also being done,” said Gurgaon Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri.