The Test Positivity Rate (TPR) of Coimbatore district has dropped below 5 %, an initial target set by the Health Department.
On Thursday, the TPR stood at 4.42 % when 498 persons tested positive for COVID-19 out of the 11,250 swab samples subjected to tests.
Tamil Nadu Health Secretary J. Radhakrishnan told The Hindu Coimbatore made a significant achievement in reducing the number of cases, registering a steady decline.
“The TPR and new cases consistently coming down is a very good sign. Now, the TPR is well below the initial target. However, the effort [of the state machinery] is to bring it to 1 % or below in the next level,” he said. According to him, the CTE region, comprising Coimbatore, Tiruppur and Erode districts, was registering a promising decline. The three districts had registered a sudden increase of cases in May that began to decline in June.
According to Dr. Radhakrishnan, a few districts were showing erratic trends in the number of new cases, registering an increase after a decrease, which the Health Department was closely analysing.
As of Thursday, 49.57 % of COVID-19 cases reported in the district in a seven day period were from the Corporation limits. Sulur (7.29%), Thudiyalur (6.88 %), Karamadai (6.73 %) and Madukkarai (5.45 %) blocks were the ones that had more number of cases in the rural areas of the district.
Increased activities following the relaxation of lockdown norms were a cause of worry for the Health and Revenue Departments as formation of new clusters will have an adverse impact on the improvement achieved by the district.
As of Thursday, Coimbatore reported 2,20,005 confirmed cases of COVID-19 so far. A total of 2,14,149 persons recovered from the disease while 2,051 persons died of it as per official records.