About 7% tested for coronavirus in Jammu & Kashmir turn out positive

Nearly seven per cent people, who have been tested for COVID-19 in Jammu and Kashmir, turned out to be positive, a percentage higher than the national average.

Till Saturday evening, out of 1,342 tests conducted and reported in J&K, 92 had tested positive. This makes a positive percentage of COVID-19 tests in the Union Territory at 6.8 per cent. The percentage, as per the data maintained by the Union ministry of health and family welfare, is higher than many states in the country.

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The data also reveals that J&K has been conducting a higher number of tests in relation to the population, standing at exactly 100 tests per million. Most states in the country have a lower per million test rate.

States and UTs that have more testing centres, and are testing more samples, are reporting higher numbers of confirmed COVID-19 cases. As the disease spreads, experts say, the percentage of tests coming out positive may also increase.

States that fare better in terms of tests per million population are Kerala, 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 million tests.

J&K nodal officer for COVID19, Bhupinder Kumar says the data was a reflection of “aggressive contact tracing” taking place in the UT. “Our teams are locating people who could have been exposed to COVID-19 in some way and testing them,” he said and 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 COVID-19 infected people we are able to locate, the better it would be for us as it will help in containing further spread,” Kumar said.

Currently, in addition to people who have travelled internationally, contacts of confirmed cases, and symptomatic healthcare workers, patients with severe acute respiratory illness (who have fever and cough and/or shortness of breath) and people who have no symptoms but are in direct and high-risk contact with confirmed cases, can get tested.