Pune municipal corporation, PCMC areas show decline in daily Covid cases & positivity rate

PUNE: The municipal corporations of Pune and Pimpri Chinchwad have reported a decline in daily Covid-19 cases and positivity rate over the past 10 days.
Pune Municipal Corporation has recorded cases in three digits for the past five days — a first since the cases started soaring in early March. The positivity rate too has stayed under 10% on these days.
In Pimpri Chinchwad municipal limits, the positivity rate is around 10-11%, while the caseload has hovered between 600 and 700, as against 900 around 10 days ago.
Pune civic health officials said this was a significant improvement in the situation and urged citizens to get tested in case they develop one or more symptoms. “We have reported a continuous drop in cases and positivity rate; it was over 20% around mid-April when the cases had peaked. Our stringent measures are showing results. Testing centres are operational in every ward,” Sanjeev Wavre, assistant health chief of PMC, said.
On May 15, PMC had added 1,693 patients, while the positivity rate stood at 13.7%. On May 24, PMC reported 494 cases at a positivity rate of 6.5%. PCMC, which had recorded 959 cases (11.8%) on May 15, added 423 patients (6%) on Monday.
“The decline indicates that the spread of the infection has been contained to an extent. This has also reduced the active cases to around the 10,000-mark; it was over 50,000 mid-April. People however should continue to follow Covid-19 norms,” a PMC official said.
Pune mayor Muralidhar Mohol said the administration has already started preparing for a potential third wave by boosting health infrastructure with additional beds.
Officials from the district health office said they were making every effort to arrest the spread in the rural parts, where positivity rate has been around 18%.