With the highest single-day spike of 377 fresh Covid-19 cases, the union territory of Chandigarh crossed the 6000-mark of positive cases on Tuesday.
The case tally stood at 6372 including 2334 active cases in the city.
In the last 24 hours, one more resident succumbed to Covid-19 taking the total toll to 75 in the union territory. Earlier, the case tally had breached the 5000-mark on September 3. While more than 200 cases were reported in the city since the beginning of September, it was for the first time that more than 300 fresh infections have been reported on a single day.
In the first eight days of September, the city has till now reported 2026 positive Covid-19 cases. A day before, 232 positive cases were reported while the city had clocked its previous highest single-day spike with 276 cases on September 3.
Notably, it took five days for the city to reach 6000 cases from 5000. Chandigarh had crossed 4000-mark on August 30 and the total tally had stood at 5065 in just four days. Before that, it took six days for the city to move to 4000 cases from 3000.
The positive cases had crossed 3000-mark on August 24, 2000-mark on August 15, 1000-mark on July 30 and 100-mark on May 4.
The first positive case was reported on March 19 in the city.
“A total of 6372 positive cases have been reported till now in Chandigarh. There were 2334 active cases and 3960 recovered cases,” stated Chandigarh Health Department’s evening bulletin.
Among various COVID-19 parameters, Chandigarh has reported 62.1 percent recovery rate against the national average of around 77 percent. A daily test positivity rate (TPR) of 38 percent and cumulative TPR of 17.1 percent were recorded.
Apart from this, Chandigarh recorded 4.7 percent average growth rate of infections. The fatality rate stood at 1.17 percent. The active ratio of cases stood at 36 percent which means for every 100 confirmed cases, 36 are currently infected in the city.
ONE DEAD, SEVERAL FRESH CASES OF INFANTS REPORTED
A 72 years old female resident of Hallomajra died at GMCH 32 on Tuesday due to complex cardio-respiratory complications owing to COVID 19, stated the UT’s health bulletin.
Among the fresh cases reported in the past 24 hours included a two months old male child from Manimajra, two years old male child from PGIMER campus, two years old girl from Sector 24, two years old female child from Hallomajra, three years old female child from Raipur Khurd, five years old male child from Sector 39, five years old female child from Sector 56, five years old female child from Kishangarh, five years old female child from Sector 33 and five years old female child from Mauli Jagran, according to the bulletin.
Out of total 377 cases, 294 were detected through RT-PCR testing while rest of the cases were found through rapid antigen testing in the city, the bulletin stated.
The fresh cases were reported from Sectors 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 32, 33, 34, 35, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 43, 44, 45, 46, 47, 48, 49, 50, 51, 52, 55, 56 63, 38 west, Burail, Dadumajra, Daria, Dhanas, Hallomajra, Kajheri, Khuda Alisher, Khuda Lahora, Kishangarh, Maloya, Manimajra, Mauli Jagran, PGIMER campus, Raipur Khurd, Ram Darbar and Bapu Dham colony in Sector 26.
A total of 226 patients have been discharged including persons from home isolation who have completed ten days and are asymptomatic as per Centre’s guidelines, the bulletin added.
TESTING RAMPED UP IN CHD
From an average of 500 tests per day in the second fortnight of August, the Chandigarh Administration has increased COVID-19 testing to an average of more than 800 tests per day in September to detect the infections.
With testing ramped up in the city, the number of infections has also seen a quantum jump in the month of September. In the first eight days of September, the city has reported 2026 positive COVID-19 cases.
The city has already crossed the 6000-mark of positive cases on Tuesday while 75 persons have succumbed to the virus till now.
A total of 6372 have so far tested positive for COVID-19 in the union territory.
As per the data with UT Health Department, 991 samples were tested in the last 24 hours as on September 8, 791 samples were tested as on September 7, 919 on Sept 6 and 797 on Sept 5. A total of 37070 samples have so far been tested in the city.
Chandigarh, however, remains among the top affected states or union territories in the country due to the unprecedented surge in COVID-19 cases in the past fortnight.
The city on Tuesday recorded a daily test positivity rate (TPR) of 38 percent, highest in the country. As far as the cumulative TPR is concerned, the union territory recorded a high positivity rate of 17.1 percent.
From a positivity rate of 6.45 percent in April, 6.12 percent in May, 5.72 percent in June, 7.52 percent in July, 14.3 percent in August, the city has breached the 15 percent mark in the month of September.
Notably, the positivity rate — the fraction of tests that return positive – is a crucial metric as experts say that a high positivity rate is also indicative of higher infection in the community and points to the need for ramping up testing.
Notably, the World Health Organization (WHO), as well as the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), advise that testing be ramped up if the TPR exceeds 10 percent.
A senior UT officer said that testing has been ramped up and both RT-PCR and rapid antigen tests are done on a daily basis to detect the fresh infections.
5,000 new antigen testing kits were ordered in September while earlier 5500 such kits were procured in August. The antigen tests started on August 3 in the city, he said.
The officer further said, “The Administration is focusing on ramping the RT-PCR and antigen testing and as of now, there is no plan to start antibody testing in Chandigarh.”