Test positivity rate in city dips again to 7.8%

Test positivity rate in city dips again to 7.8%

There Could Be Another Spike In Covid Cases, Warns Corpn

Siddharth.Prabhakar@timesgroup.com

Chennai:07.09.2020

The city’s Covid-19 test positivity rate (TPR), which is the number of positive cases for every 100 tests, was down to 7.8% on September 5, after reaching a high of 10.7% on August 22. This has been achieved despite constant daily testing of 13,000 by Greater Chennai Corporation. TPR is an indicator of the spread of the infection across the city.

The last time Chennai’s TPR was in the 7% range was on August 10, a few days before the city’s e-pass restrictions were relaxed, leading to an influx of people from other districts in the state and causing the spike. After regularly notching up more than 1200 cases every day, Chennai’s Covid-19 numbers are back to three figures for the past three days. The number of active cases as on September 5 was also down to 11,400, which was last seen on August 16.

However, GCC officials are anticipating an increase in the number of cases, though they are targeting a TPR of five percent.

GCC commissioner G Prakash said the strategy of aggressive testing, door-to-door surveys and home quarantine monitoring system would continue. “Added to this, there would be special focus on workplaces like construction sites, old age homes and vendors. These are the new focus areas,” he said.

There could be no shortcuts, as such detailed processes will have to be followed to keep the infection under control, Prakash added.

Data shows that the active cases in Ambattur and Adyar, which were recording a higher number of cases in the last three weeks, has come down drastically. For instance, Ambattur has shown a decrease of 600 active cases since August 17, while in Adyar, it is around 200 cases.

However, as witnessed on Sunday, the first time in many months without a total lockdown, the usage of masks and physical distancing went for a toss at playgrounds and markets. Infectious diseases expert Dr S Subramanian said that the government should rope in youngsters to create awareness about herd usage of masks and social distancing. “They should be involved in these activities like what happened during the 2015 floods,” he said.

The vast majority in this age group were bored now as educational institutions are closed and they need to be pulled in for peer counselling on use of masks. “If you give them ownership, it would bring in a lot of difference,” Subramanian said.