With over 11,000 sample tests being done in the last three days in Dakshina Kannada, COVID-19 test positivity rate (TPR) dropped below 2% in the last two days in the district. In Udupi district, test positivity was at 0.92 % on Sunday.
Test positivity rate, which is the number of persons testing positive for every 100 tests, was at 1.81% in Dakshina Kannada on Sunday. It was at 1.83% on Saturday. The positivity rate ranged between 3.46% and 2.07% between August 22 and August 27. A total of 81,055 tests were done in the period between August 22 and August 29 and 1,938 tested positive.
On August 1,410 persons tested positive and the positivity rate was at a high of 6.05%. In the period between August 2 and August 7, the test positivity rate ranged between 3.66% and 3.79%. A total of 54,546 samples were tested and 2,376 were found positive in this period.
Dakshina Kannada District Health and Family Welfare Officer Kishor Kumar told The Hindu that effective ring surveillance, where an average of 20 persons are tested for one positive patient, has helped in bringing down the test positivity rate. Outstation students, who are quarantined in hostels after their recent return from their home town, and those who are regularly commuting to institutions in the district from Kerala are being regularly made to undergo RT-PCR tests.
Deputy Commissioner K.V. Rajendra said that the Health Department staff did an exceptional work by ensuring collection of over 11,000 swabs in the last a few days, while keeping up the momentum of vaccination. The month of September will be challenging with the start of Pre University and other classes and also, with a host of festivals. “We have planned to keep up the momentum and try our best to keep COVID-19 under control in the district,” Dr. Rajendra said.
A total of 15,34,674 have been vaccinated so far in Dakshina Kannada of which 11,54,479 have received the first dose and 3,80,195 their second. A good number of people aged above 60 have received the vaccine with 2,11,168 (99%) their first dose and 1,21,033 (57.3%) their second.
A record 47,175 people were vaccinated on Saturday and the district stood second in terms of the number of those vaccinated for the day in the State.
