5 out of 20 J&K districts have high Covid-19 positivity rate

Twenty-five per cent of Jammu and Kashmir’s 20 districts have a positivity rate that is much higher than the Union Territory (UT) average, a trend necessitating further tracing, testing and isolation.

As per official figures, the overall positivity rate in J&K is 3.17 per cent, currently. However, between June 2 and 9, the positive percentage in the frontier district of Kupwara has been the highest in J&K. In this remote district,16.18 per cent of the samples tested were found positive.

In the worst-affected district of Srinagar, 14.44 per cent of the samples were positive while in the adjoining Budgam district positive rate was 12.99 per cent. Similarly, in the Jammu division, Jammu and Reasi districts have a positive rate of nearly 13 per cent.

A senior health department official said high positivity rate is an indicator that a large number of those being tested in such scenarios are likely to be those showing symptoms or admitted to hospitals, “while the pre- or asymptomatic go undetected and thus carry the risk of spreading the infection,” he said.

Numbers show the UT has been carrying out an average of 46,442 tests daily from June 1 to June 9. Out of a total of 4,17,979 samples taken in the first nine days of June, 13,284 tested positive. During the entire period of the pandemic, 3.38 out of every 100 people tested, were found positive, the data reveals.

In districts with a high positivity rate, more RT-PCR tests have been done, while districts with low positivity rates have around 80 per cent of the samples being tested using Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) kits. RAT, as per experts, has lesser sensitivity than RT-PCR and the chances of a false negative result are high.

J&K is among the highest Covid-19 case density areas in the country which is nearly 25,000 cases per million of the population. According to the 2011 census, J&K’s population is 12.5 million. The national average per million population so far is nearly 21,000.