Ahmedabad: Covid pips H3N2 in positivity

AHMEDABAD: It's not just the numbers, the positivity for Covid cases is also going up, indicated the city-based pathology labs. According to the ministry of health & family welfare (MoHFW) data, Ahmedabad was one of the 41 districts with weekly Covid test positivity rate (TPR) of 10.8%.
Dr Mukesh Maheshwari, a city-based pathologist, said that in February, the positivity rate (number of positive cases out of total samples) was 35% for H3N2. "In March, the positivity rate has come down to 19%. On the other hand, fewer samples had tested positive for Covid in February. But in March, the positivity rate is 21% - effectively, positivity rate for Covid is higher than H3N2," he said.
Dr Maheshwari added that compared to H3N2 cases, the cases of Influenza B are on the rise.
Other city-based labs said that test positivity for Covid is steadily rising. "However, viral load, which indicates severity of the cases, has remained low. It's possible that there could be more cases, but only those cases with severe symptoms or those with existing comorbidities come for pathology lab testing," said the administrator of a path lab.