Covid-19: Pune district’s WPR drops to 3.3%, but still over Maharashtra's average

PUNE: Divisional commissioner Saurabh Rao on Thursday said the district’s weekly positivity rate was 3.3% for the August 12 to 18 period — 0.5% less than the last week’s 3.8% but 1.36% higher than the state average of 2.44%.
As per the district health department data, the Covid-19 WPR for the Pune Municipal Corporation (PMC) limits in the seven-day period was 2.5%. It was 3.2% in the Pimpri Chinchwad Municipal Corporation (PCMC) limits and 3.9% in the Pune rural areas.

Health officials claimed there was a dip in cases in this seven-day period. According to the data, 6,325 fresh cases were reported last week as against this week’s 6,008. The active case count this week was 7,992, compared to the last week’s 8,992. The mortality rate for the August 12-18 period in the district was 1.6%.
Rao said the back-to back below-4% weekly positivity rate in the district was a good sign before the weekly Covid review meeting, to be chaired by deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar on Friday. “The local administrations are ensuring citizens strictly follow Covid protocols,” he said, adding that efforts were being made to bring down the district’s WPR.
Senior officials told TOI that any new announcements related to relaxations were unlikely after this week’s review meeting. The focus of Covid mitigation continued to be on the rural areas in the district; nearly 80,000 tests were carried out in the seven-day period. “But the WPR and the total number of new cases added this week was less compared the previous seven days in the district,” said a health official.
The health department officials stated that they had procured more Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits for increasing testing in rural areas. The public health department is spending nearly Rs22.5 crore to procure 25 lakh RAT kits for the state to increase testing, especially in districts of concern, ahead of the possible third wave.