Region fights another round of Covid, 50% cases in Himachal Pradesh

CHANDIGARH/ SHIMLA/KULLU: The region, comprising Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, is grappling with another spike in Covid-19 infections this past week, with nearly half of these being in Himachal Pradesh. The hill state also breached the World Health Organisation’s (WHO) 5% positivity rate limit along with Haryana.
There has been a notable rise in the number of cases, but hospitalisations still remain low. The health experts, however, fear that a surge in cases for a few more weeks at the current pace will eventually increase the rate of hospitalisation.
Among the states witnessing a high number of cases, Himachal is fifth on the list, recording 2,011 cases between March 31 and April 6. Kerala (8,484), Maharashtra (3,987), Delhi (3,014) and Gujarat (2,244) are the top four states. The neighbouring state of Haryana reported 1,379 cases, the seventh-most in the country, while in Punjab 496 samples tested positive during the same period.
The average weekly test positivity rate in Himachal was 6.63% and 4,332 tests on average were conducted daily while in neighbouring Haryana, 3,766 tests were done on average, and the weekly test positivity rate was pegged at 5.23%. More than five districts in Himachal and Haryana reported more than 5% positivity.
Higher the positivity rate – the percentage of samples found infected out of the total tested – more difficult it is to control the spread. The lowest number of tests -- 2,128 tests on average-- were done in Punjab and the weekly positivity rate was 3.33%. With states not testing enough, the health ministry has issued directions for ramping up testing for early detection and isolation of infected individuals.
Himachal is seeing a rise in cases since March and six people have died in less than a month in the state, taking the total number of Covid-related deaths to 4,198 so far. Till April 7, the state had recorded a total 1,739 new cases, with a positivity rate of 6.6 even as state health officials have started advising people to start wearing masks at public places.
The present hospital admission rate is 0.9%. According to health officials, Covid testing has been amped up and over 5,000 tests are being done per day — the highest in the country. Officials said there is sufficient availability of beds, oxygen and ventilators in the state hospitals.
Besides the conventional RT-PCR test, which is considered as the gold standard, the rapid antigen testing method is also used by all three states for screening purposes.