Daily spike, growth rate, doubling time dip in dist

Coimbatore: Health officials say the district has been recording fewer Covid-19 cases than projected for the period followed by a dip in growth rate of cases, which stands at 2.2% against the projected 3.7%.
According to them, earlier detection and contact tracing have prevented many asymptomatic and mildly symptomatic patients from becoming super spreaders, bringing down the new cases. Stricter enforcement of containment measures and precautions, they say, will further reduce the growth rate of Covid-19 cases.
As on Wednesday, the district’s Covid-19 tally was 21,228, 3.9% lower than the projected 22,824 for the period.
Dr G Ramesh Kumar, deputy director of public health, says, “In fact, from Sunday (Sept 6), the Covid-19 tally has been lesser than projected for the district. Monday, when we had six cases more than the projected figure, was an exception though. In hardly a week, the daily spike in cases has dropped to 445 from 580 to 598.”
As per the projection, the district was supposed to see 756 new cases of Covid-19 on Wednesday. However, just 445 cases were recorded on that day at a growth rate of 2.2%. On Tuesday too, the district recorded only 446 new cases against the projected 999 cases.
The dip in growth rate has also brought down the doubling time of cases in the district to 23 days from 18 days. Kumaravel Pandian, city corporation commissioner, says, “This is because of early detection of cases and isolating houses with positive cases by barricading their premises to ensure they are not venturing out and spreading the virus. During contact tracing, we ensure that asymptomatic cases at workplaces don’t go undetected.”
Health department has intensified implementation of Covid-19 preventive measures by fining people without masks. “We have deployed two mobile vans in rural areas to fine people without masks. At Zamin Uthukuli, we have made 16 people without masks undergo the Covid-19 testing. In city corporation limits, thousands of people have been fined. If people cooperate, we can bring down cases further by the end of this week and next week,” says the deputy director of public health.