In last two weeks of April, Punjab’s positivity rate was 11%

Despite a fall in positivity percentage in 12 out 22 districts of the state in the last two weeks of April, the state witnessed a steep rise in its overall positivity rate that stood at 11 per cent for the period between April 16-30.

If cumulative positivity rate was to be considered since the beginning of the pandemic, it stood at 4.4 per cent on April 16, and reached 5.13 per cent on April 30.

On April 16, the total cumulative confirmed cases of the state were 2,90,707 which skyrocketed to 3,70,973 cases on April 30, an increase of 80,266 cases in just two weeks.

In the two week period, total 7,03,445 samples were collected out of which 80,266 samples tested positive which comes to the 11.4 per cent positivity rate.

The total samples taken from April 1 to 15 were 5,01,202 out of which , 43,921 came out positive which comes an increase of 8.7 per cent. The second half of the April month showed an increase of 2.7 percentage points in positivity rate that stood at 11 per cent on April 30.

Meanwhile, 12 out of 22 districts of the state recorded fall in positivity percentage but there are some districts which have recorded steep increase in positivity rate in the same period.

The district which witnessed steep increase in the past two weeks included Mansa, which topped the list with 18.69 percentage point increase in positivity rate as the district had 7.72 per cent positivity rate on April 16, while on April 30, it had recorded 26.41 per cent positivity rate.

Moga district too has recorded 4.69 percentage point increase in positivity from 12.65 per cent on April 16 to 17.34 per cent on April 30th. Tarn Taran (3.81 percentage points), Mohali (3.40 percentage points), Sangrur (2.40 percentage points), and Fazilka (2.15 percentage points) have also recorded an increase in the past two weeks.

Apart from this Patiala, Fatehgarh Sahib, Nawanshar, and Jalandhar, also recorded increased positivity rate between 0.1 to 1.57 percentage points.

The districts which had recorded a decrease in positivity included Mukatsar Sahib where positivity decreased from 18.39 per cent to 8.70 per cent from April 16 to April 30.

Amritsar and Bathinda too recorded 5.5 percentage point fall each in positivity rate. Kapurthala (4.81 percentage points), Hoshiarpur (3.92 percentage points), Ferozepur (3.06 percentage points) also recorded a fall.

A decrease of less than 3 percentage points was witnessed in Pathankot, Gurdaspur, and Faridkot.

A senior doctor with the Punjab Health Department said that in the second wave the positivity rate in few of the districts is very high and we are analysing the reasons behind it. The new cases are not necessarily contacts of already positive cases in the area, he added.