Data drive: Positivity rate dips further

India, over the last few days, has been consistently recording less than 50,000 cases daily. On Friday, the country recorded 47,638 infections. But, the real relief has been a dip in the positivity rates—daily cases upon daily tests. While positivity rates had crossed the 10% mark in September, within two months, the positivity rate has dipped to 4.2%.

This trend is also visible in some of India’s largest states. In Andhra Pradesh, positivity has dipped from 18% to 3.3%. In Karnataka, the dip is from 13.2% to 3.3%. In Maharashtra, the positivity has decreased from 21.7% to 8.2%. In Tamil Nadu, which tests using only using RT-PCR the dip has been from 7.2% to 3.3%. While Kerala still has a higher positivity of 11.2%, this has come down from 14.2% from a month ago period.

However, Delhi and Haryana are following a different trend. In Delhi, over the last few days positivity has increased to 11%, Harayana has also witnessed a jump to 8.2%. On Friday, Delhi recorded close to 7,000 cases for third day in a row. As the city finds more infections and ramps up testing, positivity may go up further. Three-fourths of the tests in Delhi are done using the rapid antigen test.