Covid-19 positivity rate in 26 Karnataka districts higher than national average

Twenty-six districts of Karnataka have reported a positivity rate of Covid-19 way above the national average, the Union Health Ministry said here on Tuesday.

Uttara Kannada tops the list with a 45.7 per cent test positivity rate followed by Ballari (44.3 per cent), Hassan (42.1 per cent) and Mysuru (41.3 per cent). For comparison, the national positivity rate is 21 per cent.

Karnataka has 28 such districts where the positivity rate is way above the national average. Bengaluru Urban, which reports the maximum number of cases in Karnataka has a positivity rate of 34.7 per cent.

They are among the 310 districts all over the country (out of 734 districts) where the Covid-19 infections are spreading faster as all of them have a positivity rate higher than the national average, contributing towards the current upsurge.

Incidentally, Karnataka on Monday overtook Maharashtra in terms of the maximum number of Covid-19 cases and deaths reported in the last 24 hours (data released by the Health Ministry at 8 AM). It reported 39,305 new cases as against 37,236 for Maharashtra and 596 deaths as against 549 in Maharashtra in the last 24 hours.

As many as 533 districts out of 734 have a Covid-19 positivity rate of more than 10 per cent including 45 such districts in Madhya Pradesh and 36 in Maharashtra.

Read | Karnataka's Covid-19 tally crosses 20 lakh-mark with 39,510 fresh infections

To find out more hidden infections, the Indian Council of Medical Research has suggested rationalising the use of RTPCR tests and setting up multiple rapid antigen test booths at all government and private healthcare facilities in cities, towns and villages without any need for accreditation.

ICMR director general Balram Bhargava said India currently has a capacity of conducting 16 lakhs RTPCR and 17 lakh RAT daily. He, however, didn’t clarify why the number of daily tests never crossed the 20-lakh mark despite having a capacity of 33 lakhs.

But as the number of cases rose in the states, several experts are worried about the drop in testing, which may lead to missing out on the infections hidden in small cities and countryside.

“At the end of the first wave, we were doing 63 tests for every case and the national test positivity rate was 1.6 per cent. Now, we’re doing a mere 4.5 tests for every case and the TPR at 22.3 per cent! Even at the peak of the first wave, we were doing 11.4 tests per case compared to the current 4.5,” tweeted health economist Rijo John, a former WHO consultant who is tracking the epidemic.

The ICMR has also recommended doing away with RTPCR tests for healthy individuals travelling interstate, which goes contrary to the guidelines issued by several states mandating such tests.