MOHALI: The
Mohali district claims of having the highest rate of tests per million cases in the state as well as in the country. The
Punjab chief minister had recently issued a statement declaring that the state’s rate of tests per million was higher than the national average.
Mohali deputy commissioner Girish Dayalan said the Mohali district has the highest Covid-19 testing rate per million in the state as the testing is leading from the front and the same has been ramped up through concerted efforts of the district administration.
He said, “According to the data, Mohali is conducting 1,700 tests per million, while Punjab is conducting 1,086 tests per million and the country is conducting 747 tests per million. At present, the district is tracing at least 19 contacts (highest in the state) per positive case.”
Dayalan said apart from this, the district also carried another milestone and has the highest contact tracing of positive cases in the state.
He stated that despite having the most number of active cases in the state, the district has been maintaining one of the lowest fatality rate i.e. 0.9% through dedicated efforts of the healthcare workers. He also reiterated that the district has seen 1.39% decline in the positivity rate from 21.42% last week to 20.02% this week.
The district has increased its level II and level III bed capacities at the government and private hospitals for critical patients. At present, there are 379 beds, of which, 272 are already occupied and 107 are vacant.
Punjab chief minister
Amarinder Singh, in a recent statement, said the state’s rate of tests per million was higher than the national average and claimed that the situation would have been better if the central government had not “delayed” the vaccination process.
“Had the central government acceded to the state’s request for allowing vaccination of all above 50 years of age earlier, instead of delaying it by almost two months, the situation would have been better than the present,” he had said.