Every second person getting tested in Kolkata is positive

One of two persons undergoing RT-PCR tests in Kolkata and its suburbs is turning out to be Covid-positive. In the rest of the state, one of four RT-PCR report is Covid positive. That is a five-fold jump from the beginning of the month, when only one of 20 tests was positive.

“Laboratories in Kolkata and surrounding areas are reporting a positivity rate of 45%-55% while in other parts of the state the positivity rate is around 24%, up from 5% at the beginning of this month,” said a doctor attached to one of the largest laboratories conducting RT-PCR tests in the state.

This, a senior doctor at a state-run hospital said, is only the tip of the iceberg. “The actual positivity rate will be much higher. There would be so many asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients who are not getting themselves tested. We are not testing enough. We must not be deterred from testing more as this is one major tool to contain this wave,” he said.

Of the 25,766 samples tested in the state on April 1, only 1,274 samples were positive, a positivity of 4.9%. On Saturday, 55,060 samples were tested across the state and 25.9% samples or 14,281 persons were positive.