BHUBANESWAR: The state’s test positivity rate or TPR on Sunday went down below 10% for the first time in two months, bringing the much-needed relief to the overworked state health authorities. Buoyed by the dip in positivity, the healthcare experts are optimistic about a steep fall in the number of active cases by mid-June.
Officials said the positivity rate was above 10% for around two months and reached its peak of 24.09% on May 7. The last time it was less than 10% (9.91) was on April 6, they added.
The state reported 7,002 new infections from among the 71,973 samples tested on Sunday, pulling down the TPR to 9.72%. The number of samples tested on Sunday reflected the government’s commitment to ramp up testing and bring the daily numbers to at least 71,800.
Recently, the health department officials in a presentation made before chief minister Naveen Patnaik, had said testing would be enhanced to cover the infected population. The state has tested a little over 1.21 crore people so far.
The healthcare experts hope that June will see the infection spread being contained in the districts. “From the way we are moving towards a bend in the Covid-19 curve, the state will see very few daily infections after June 15. We will soon have a TPR of below 5% because the state has intensified vaccination along with testing. The cases in the state’s western and central districts are coming down,” Ajay Parida, director, Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), said.
For the first time in more than two months, a district has reported cases in single digit. Tribal-dominated Kandhamal saw just three new cases on Sunday. The western districts, where the infection count has come down to double digits, are Balangir (89), Jharsuguda (97), Malkangiri (95), Nuapada (28) and Subarnapur (59).
However, despite the sharp drop in infections, the fatalities continue to be around 40 every day. On Sunday, 42 more patients succumbed to the virus with 20 of the 30 districts reporting at least one death.
