Punjab sees 58% dip in active Covid cases in 21 days

CHANDIGARH: In a sign of some let-up in the Covid onslaught in Punjab, there has been a 58% drop in the number of active cases in 21 days. In the last few days, the case positivity rate, too, has remained below the 5% limit fixed by the World Health Organisation (WHO). On June 2, it had gone up to 3.33%.
After the count of active cases shot up to 79,950 on May 13, the number of patients infected with the virus has now come down to 31,133, the lowest since mid-April.
In the past many days, the state has witnessed more recoveries than fresh cases, pushing the active case ratio to 5.44%, which implies that for every 100 confirmed cases, about five are currently undergoing treatment, while about 92 out of 100 have recovered from the virus. All-India active case ratio stands at 6.3%. Out of 5,71,970 infected people, 5,26,089 have recovered.
The drop in active cases has also relieved the pressure on the health facilities across the state. The utilisation of Level II facilities, having capacity of 11,150 beds, has come down to 30% and use of Level III facilities, having intensive care units (ICUs) and oxygen support systems, has dropped to about 50%, which during the peak of the second wave had touched 85%. According to health department data, as many as eight districts have active cases below 1,000 while Ludhiana – the worst-hit district-- has the highest count of 3,604 active cases in the state.
The daily growth rate of cases has recorded a significant drop in recent weeks and is lower than the national growth rate. From 9.4% on May 18, the rate at which the daily cases has grown has dropped to 3.5% on June 1. India’s growth rate too has slipped from 7.6% to 3.7% during the same period.
The weekly positivity has also gone below the 5% limit for the first time since February. As many as 11 districts out of 22 recorded weekly positivity of five or less in the week ending June 1.
In line with slowing down of virus spread in the state, the number of containment zones has also become less.
The health department has attributed this to the effective containment of the virus by breaking the transmission chain in the identified geographical areas. The number of micro containment zones -- areas having 5 to 14 cases -- has come down to 140, which during the peak had risen to 180.