The Covid graph in Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala and Bengal has seen a sharp rise.
New Delhi: Even as India is inching towards flattening the Covid-19 curve with a drop in fresh daily cases, states like Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala and West Bengal are causing a worry for officials, as the Covid graph in these states is witnessing a sharp rise.
For the last one week, Delhi has seen the sharpest rise in the number of daily cases. Since 3 November, Delhi has recorded over 6,500 fresh positive cases every day, leading to a worry among the population as well as health experts.
On Wednesday, the national capital witnessed the highest ever fresh positive cases ever since the beginning of the pandemic. Delhi recorded over 6,800 fresh positive cases on a single day.
The test positivity rate in Delhi has also gone up significantly. The national capital, which was witnessing a test positivity rate of about 7-8% for the last two months, has suddenly seen a jump in the test positivity rate over the last week to 12%.
Test positivity rate (TPR) is the percentage of people turning out positive for Covid-19 among the total number of people tested for Covid-19.
A higher TPR means a greater spread of the infection in society and, according to WHO guidelines, a TPR of less than 5% is considered suitable for flattening the curve.
Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal has attributed the rise in the number of daily fresh cases in the city to a “third wave of Covid-19”.
Experts and doctors, however, say that the rise is not a case of a third wave, but the quick relaxations and reopening of public places which are witnessing a massive festive crowd all across the city.
Although Maharashtra has witnessed a sharp decline in the daily number of fresh cases in the last few weeks, experts attribute this to the decreasing number of tests being conducted in the state.
Among states, Maharashtra has the highest test positivity rate in the country. The TPR in Maharashtra currently stands at 18.4%, while the national average is 7.5%. Maharashtra is also recording the highest mortality rate in the country with over 2.5% of the positive cases turning out to be fatal. Mega cities in Maharashtra like Mumbai and Pune are also recording a high number of cases. Pune currently is the number one city when it comes to TPR or reporting of fresh daily cases. The TPR for Pune currently stands at the country’s highest–24%.
Kerala is once again recording the highest number of fresh daily positive cases since the last one week. Over the week, Kerala alone recorded around 35,000 fresh Covid-19 positive cases. The districts which are recording a high number of cases in Kerala include Thiruvananthapuram, Malappuram, Kozhikode, Ernakulam and Thrissur.
The growth rate of the infection is also one of the highest in Kerala. The state is recording a growth rate of about 1.6% over the last one week, while the TPR in the state as on Friday stood at 9.5%.
Kerala also has one of the highest active case ratios in the country, with over 18% of the total infected people from the state still positive with the virus.
Certain districts from West Bengal are also adding a significant chunk to the total fresh Covid-19 positive cases. Districts like North-24 Parganas, Kolkata, Howrah and Hooghly are contributing the highest tally of cases in West Bengal. Kolkata and North 24 Parganas alone are recording over 1,700 cases daily and also have high test positivity rate. The growth in the number of daily cases in Bengal is also being attributed to the recently concluded Durga Puja festival which witnessed massive crowds on the streets of Kolkata and other areas in Bengal. The state also has an overall test positivity rate of about 9% with a growth rate of positive cases by 1.1% over the last one week. Other mega cities like Bengaluru and Chennai are witnessing a drop in the number of cases compared to the last two weeks of October.