In J&K, 6.8 percent of the COVID19 tests carried out have turned out to be positive, a percentage higher than most states of India. Government says targeted testing was helping in tracking more cases.
Out of the 1342 tests conducted and reported in J&K, 92have tested positive till 4 April. While 1250 tests have been found negative,reports of 55 more are still awaited. The information, given out by J&Kgovernment puts positive percentage of COVID19 tests here at 6.8. Thepercentage, as per the data maintained by union ministry of health and familywelfare is higher than many states of India.
States like Gujarat, West Bengal, Kerala and Maharashtrahave been witnessing very high number of COVID19 cases. However, these stateshave lower percentage of positive cases among the total tested, indicating thata very high percentage of tests conducted are found to be negative.
States like Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh have a highpercentage of positive cases among the tested, in comparison to J&K.Government said that the higher positive percentage in J&K is a result oftargeted testing and reflects the strategy – test, isolate, treat. BhupinderKumar, J&K nodal officer for COVID19 said the data was a reflection of”aggressive contact tracing” taking place in J&K. “Our teams are locatingpeople who could have been exposed to COVID19 in some way and testing them,” hesaid. He added that J&K was not going for random testing.
While some doctors termed the higher percentage of positives”alarming,” Kumar warned against such inference from data. “The more COVID19infected people we are able to locate, the better it would be for us as it willhelp in containing further spread,” he said.
Data also reveals that J&K has been conducting highernumber of tests in relation to the population, standing at exactly 100 testsper million on Saturday. Most states of India have a lower per million testrate. States that fare better in terms of tests per million population areKerala, leading with over 260 tests for the reference number. States like Goa,Delhi, Sikkim, and UTs of Chandigarh and Ladakh also have a better per milliontesting.
Kumar said government planned to keep the testing pace goingand was exploring options of roping in more facilities to increase the numberof tests. “We have just started testing in Udhampur which takes the totalnumber of labs in J&K to four. If needed, we may add up more labs,” hesaid.