300 Dists Seeing Weekly Positivity Rate Of Over 5%

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New Delhi: India is witnessing a “phenomenally high” growth rate in Covid-19 cases with 300 districts recording above 5% weekly positivity rate, up from 78 districts a week ago, officials said.
Tamil Nadu’s positivity rate on Wednesday was 11.3%, while the weekly average test positivity rate was 7.7%. Hotspots Chennai and Chengalpet recorded more than 20% positivity on Wednesday. The surge in cases is also evident as more states are reporting high caseload, with some including poll-bound UP (14 times), Bihar (11.27 times) and MP (10.95 times) witnessing an exponential rise in active caseload over one week.
Endorsing the World Health Organisation’s warning, health officials in India urged people to not become complacent and treat Omicron infection as common cold. “Omicron is not the common cold, cannot take it lightly. We need to be vigilant, get vaccinated and follow Covid-appropriate behaviour,” NI- TI Aayog member-health V K Paul said. At present, 19 states have more than 10,000 active cases, compared to six such states just a week ago. In Punjab, active cases are 8.65 times the load a week ago.

›Must not slacken, P 10

Chennai, 3 districts report 60% of cases

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Tamil Nadu on Wednesday added 17,934 new Covid-19 cases when 29 of the 38 districts reported a surge in fresh cases. Chennai with 7,372 new cases, along with Chengalpet (1,840), Tiruvallur (931), Kancheepuram (620) reported nearly 60% of (10,763) of new cases in Tamil Nadu.