Ghaziabad: With the onset of November, the month of festivals, as more businesses reopened and festivities brought thousands of Ghaziabad residents together outdoors, testing
positivity rates in the city’s
containment zones went up several notches, letting the cautious optimism be overtaken by concern.
In Ghaziabad’s sealed zones, the state’s disease surveillance programme data reveals, the proportion of people who tested positive among those screened for
Covid is around 7% as against the district’s overall average of 4%. The state IDSP pointed out this data during a recent video conference.
Meanwhile, an analysis of Covid tests undertaken in November (till November 18) revealed that the positivity
rate has increased significantly after Diwali. The positivity rate of RT-PCR tests between November 15 and 18 was 8.5%, while it was 4.8% between November 1 and 14. The positivity rate for TrueNat tests dipped slightly from 20.48% pre-Diwal to 17.7% post-Diwali. However, the combined positivity rates in RT-PCR and TrueNat tests rose to 9.7% from 6.3% recorded in the previous fortnight.
Based on the observations, the health authorities have started to closely scrutinise Covid cases and map them on a 48-hour basis. Officials said, based on the mapping, teams are being sent to conduct tests in areas where a large number of cases have come to light.
District health officials said the higher positivity rate in containment zones suggest that teams conducting surveys in containment zones are identifying people with symptoms and bringing them for testing.
District magistrate Ajay Shankar Pandey said, “We have already increased the number of surveillance teams to 1,000 and stressing on focused testing in high-risk areas. Staff posted at the integrated Covid command centre are doing a follow-up of Covid cases.”
“Along with the health staff, officials from the World Health Organization (WHO) is assisting the health department in mapping Covid cases. Moreover, we have also increased the number of testing spots to 30, of which 15 are permanent while 15 are mobile,” said a senior official.
According to the health department, 985 people tested positive out of 20,459 screened through the RT-PCR method in the pre-Diwali period. During November 15-18, 2,905 people were tested and 247 turned out to be positive. Similarly, 450 out of 2,197 people were found positive through TrueNat machines in the first fortnight, while 80 of 450 people were found positive after Diwali.
There hasn’t been any significant change in positivity rate of antigen tests. Between November 1 and 14, of 27,420 people tested through antigen kits, 679 turned out to be positive. In the days after Diwali, 183 tested positive out of 7,606 tests. A positivity rate of 2.4% was maintained throughout the duration.