The situation may turn worrisome in West Bengal, where the pandemic has spread rapidly over the past fortnight and the positivity rate has exceeded 17%, well above the red line of 5% drawn by the World Health Organisation. Unlike the Delta version, which caused a second wave, Omicron has been found to be less lethal, with most of those infected not requiring hospitalization.
Significantly, except Mizoram and Kerala, the positivity rate of each of these states was around 1% in the last fortnight (December 13-26). A TOI study found that most other states and union territories also saw a sharp rise in Covid cases in the last two weeks, many of them still out of danger and pulled by WHO for a second wave. red” line.
The situation in the five poll-bound states is mixed. While Goa (15%) and Punjab (6%) seem to be in need of immediate and stringent containment measures, others are yet to reach the stage where the positivity rate is less than 2%, the lowest in UP at 1% is less than. , Uttarakhand and Manipur have about 2%.
The all-India positivity rate has been around 4% in the last fortnight, though it is a massive increase from 0.5% in the last 14 days period. The situation is largely similar in many other states, of which at least seven – Jharkhand, Himachal Pradesh, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat and Rajasthan Rajasthan The positivity rate was around 3-4% during the fortnight ending January 8.
A high positivity rate is indicative of a state testing only the sickest and lacking tracking and treatment measures. One of the reasons why the positivity rate is yet to rise may be due to the country reaching the milestone of 150 crore doses past weak vaccination coverage with large. Bihar, Orissa, Telangana, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Assam and Jammu and Kashmir have all kept the positivity rate below 2% so far.
During the peak of the second wave in April-May, Goa had the highest fortnightly positivity rate at 43%, followed by Karnataka with 32%, West Bengal 30%, Kerala 27%, Uttarakhand 23% and Himachal Pradesh, Andhra Each had 22%. , Chandigarh and Rajasthan.
As of Sunday, the highest number of active Covid cases are in Maharashtra (1.7 lakh), West Bengal (62,055) and Delhi (48,178). Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Kerala each have 30,000 to 40,000 active cases while Gujarat and Jharkhand have over 21,000 cases, UP has 18,551 cases and Rajasthan has 14,000.
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