Test positivity rate falls rapidly in city

Nagpur: The weekly test positivity rate (TPR) of Covid-19 has fallen rapidly, more than it had surged, in the second wave of the pandemic in city. Also, the number of deaths crossed 8,000 in the district on Saturday, with the latest 1,000 fatalities in the last 12 days.
As per data of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC), weekly TPR was 11.61% between February 26 and March 4 and started to increase since then. It increased to 18.06% between March 5 and 11. Then, it surged to 24.15% between March 12 and 18 followed by 25.18% between March 19 and 25.
The rate declined to 22.97% between March 26 and April 1. Thereafter, the city started to witness a spike in cases. Weekly TPR surged to 28.3% between April 2 and 8. There was slight increase to 28.36% between April 9 and 15. It again spiked to 31.25% between April 16 and 22.
Then, the city started to witness a decline in weekly TPR. It reduced to 24.31% between April 23 and 29 and dropped to 18.06% between April 30 and May 6 (19,977 cases as against 1,10,602 tests).
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Nitin Shinde told TOI, “Weekly TPR was below 32% in the city. In the second wave, many cities have TPR of more than 40%. The downfall is reasonable and good in a sense that testing has been consistent. We need to maintain it even in coming days for completely getting out of the pandemic,” he said.
Meanwhile, Covid-19 positive cases further declined to 2,016 in the city on Saturday, the lowest in a day after 38 days. Also, cases in the district dropped below 4,000 after 32 days.
There was no decline in testing as the civic body held special camps in residential areas where active cases are high. Also, RT-PCR testing capacity has been increased by 2,000 per day by engaging the laboratory of SpiceHealth.
On Saturday, 7,799 patients recovered in the district, the highest-ever in a day. The previous highest recoveries were 7,575 on May 1. The recoveries are more than new cases for nine consecutive days.
Due to high number of deaths in the second wave, the toll of the district increased to 8,069 on Saturday. Total 2,035 deaths have been recorded in the last 23 days.
Among 35 districts in the state, Nagpur is third after Mumbai and Pune to record over 8,000 fatalities. The population of Nagpur district is less than Thane and Nashik. But Covid-19 deaths are more in the district as compared to Thane and Nashik.