Covid testing jumps 57% in a fortnight, still lower than November level

Among metros, Pune has highest positivity rate of 1.05%; 7 of Kerala's 14 districts have positivity rate of over 1%

Covid testing has increased 57 per cent in the last fortnight, but the average testing numbers are still lower than the levels achieved in the first week of December 2022, a Business Standard analysis found.

While India tested 171,088 samples for the seven days till January 5, its level of testing at the start of December was 175,209 samples. The average testing in October was 185,267 samples, whereas the levels in November were 187,738 per day, according to Indian Council of Medical Research data.

The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare had issued an alert December 20, 2022, about the Covid-19 situation in other countries and directed all the states and Union Territories to sequence the positive case samples to track variants.

Although testing has increased, the levels of infections have remained subdued. For the seven days till January 5, the average daily infections were 190 and the positivity rate was 0.1 per cent. The average positivity in November was 0.5 per cent, whereas it was 1 per cent in October.

A district-wise analysis of data shows that only one district out of 688, for which data was available, recorded over 5 per cent positivity rate — ratio of daily infections and tests. The average positivity rate in Kerala was higher than the national average as seven of the 14 districts recorded over 1 per cent positivity.

The worrying aspect is the higher-than-average positivity rate in metropolises. Pune had a positivity rate of 1.05 per cent among the 8 metros evaluated by <Business Standard>. Bengaluru’s positivity rate was 0.65 per cent. Hyderabad had the lowest positivity rate of 0.15 per cent, closer to the national average.

On Thursday, the ministry said that of the 40 samples from international travellers for which genomic sampling report was available, 14 were tested with the XBB variant, which is the principal cause for the rise in Covid-19 cases in some countries.

While 90 per cent of India’s population has been administered a second dose, booster dose administration has lagged at 30 per cent.