Srinagar: While the cumulative positive cases and overall positive percentage among the tested samples has fallen drastically, four districts in J&K still continue to have over 3 out of every 100 tested samples positive.
For the first time in the past three months, the positive percentage of all the 20 districts of J&K has dropped to the category of “below 5 percent” as per the data released by union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. J&K features with 35 states and union territories of India that now have a reduced caseload and positive percentage. Many districts in 13 states and UTs that have a positive percentage of over 10 percent, many of them in the north-eastern region. Arunachal Pradesh has been witnessing a very high positive percentage in five of its districts, 21 percent in Kurung region, the highest in India at present.
In J&K, district Jammu has had the highest percentage of samples positive in the week gone by (between 05 and 11 July) as per the Ministry data. The positive percentage of Jammu district has been 4.21 recently, closely followed by district Srinagar with 4.12 of its tested population positive for SARS-CoV2. In Ramban district and Kupwara district, the positive percentage is 3.54 and 3.15 respectively.
The positive percentage of Kulgam district is the lowest (0.51), Anantnag and Udhampur also in the same league.
The positive percentage is an indicator of the spread of the virus at a given point of time. It is being measured for every week by the Union Health Ministry.
However, overall, the spread of the virus has fallen in all of the districts in J&K. In Kupwara, the positive percentage has fallen from over 16 a month ago. In Jammu, the percentage was nearly 13 four weeks ago, while in Srinagar, it stood at 14.5.
J&K has been conducting intensive sampling and testing for ensuring early detection of the infected individuals and contain spread, Additional Chief Secretary J&K Government, Atal Dulloo said. He said the number of tests was over 60,000 daily now and one of the highest in India. “A significant number of our tests are being done on RT-PCR machines now and we have augmented testing across districts,” he said.
J&K Government has recently issued instructions to reinforce its four “Ts” for containing the spread of coronavirus and attempt averting the possible Third Wave. The four Ts, as per the Government guidelines are – Trace, Test, Track and Treat.