Nagpur: The district has registered 22,578 positive cases of Covid-19 in the third week of March (15-21), which is the highest tally for a week in the year-long pandemic.
Cases registered in the last seven days are more than that detected in 28-31 days of all other months, excluding August and September last year.
The biggest worry for the district is the test positivity rate (TPR) which has surged to 22%. TPR was 9.89% when the second started in the third week of February, followed by 8.46% in the last week. TRP increased to 12.43% in first week of March and increased to 18.63% in the second week.
According to infectious diseases specialist Dr Nitin Shinde, such high number of cases might be due to mutation in variant of Covid-19. “Chances of UK variant (B.1.1.7) driving the transmission cannot be ruled out. Genome sequencing of swab samples can give the exact picture,” he said.
TOI was the only paper to report on March 18 about the National Institute of Virology (NIV), Pune, detecting the UK strain (B.1.1.7) in the swab sample of a 48-year-old woman from Wardha. It acknowledged the strain as a variant of concern.
With no travel history, the woman had probably contracted the disease in the city.
Citing this case, guardian minister Nitin Raut on Saturday had also feared mutation in strain. He said results of 92 swab samples sent for genome sequencing will help to know this.
In the third week of March cases have increased three times as compared to the first week.
Before the second wave, the highest number of cases in a day were 2,343 registered on September 13 last year. It was surpassed on March 16 (2,587). Since then, there have been more than 3,200 cases per day, with highest 3,796 detected on March 18.
The district had registered peak of first wave in last two weeks of August and entire month of September last year. Highest number of 12,411 cases was in the second week of September.
The increase is cases has also led to spike in the Covid toll in the third week of March. There have been 165 fatalities in the last seven days, which is three times that registered in the first week.
The deaths are less as compared to September last year. Between September 15 and 21 last year, there were 392 fatalities, which is the highest for a week so far.
Dr Shinde further said that the second wave is likely to be longer and bigger than first one. “Number of tests has increased and people too are less apprehensive about testing. There are large number of clusters this time. Unlike earlier, containment zone system may not work now because everything is open. Vaccination of all is must to tackle the situation,” he said.
The Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Zilla Parishad (ZP) along with private laboratories have done record tests in the third week of March. In the last seven days 1,02,804 tests were done, which is a record for all weeks in the last 12 months.
In second week of September, tests were 54,185.
The district recorded second highest number of cases after Pune in the country for some days in the week gone by. Cases in city were probably highest among all urban areas in the country on two consecutive days.
Active cases in the district surged to 29,771 on Sunday, which too is a record, and continued to be second after Pune (42,015) in active cases in the country.
Raut in the meeting held on Sunday directed the NMC to conduct sample survey in hotspots to contain the Covid spread. “Identify reasons for spike in posh areas of Dharampeth, Laxmi Nagar and Hanuman Nagar zones. Antigen tests should be conducted in crowded areas and where there are high number of cases,” he said. The minister also stressed effective monitoring of positive patients in home isolation, followed by stringent action against violators.