The district, which has reported more than 2,000 cases in the past ten days, saw a slight decrease on Monday to 1,621 cases.
While this is not uncommon on weekends due to reduced testing and fewer staff in the test centers, the positivity rate in the district over the past three days was 32%.
On May 14, of the 8,128 tests taken, 2,808 became positive, followed by 2,466 of 7,865 on May 15 and 2,300 of 7,415 on May 16, with an average positivity rate of 32.3% for three days.
The district’s cumulative coronavirus count reached 1.6 lakh, while the toll hit 1,100 on Monday. Of these, 40% of the cases and more than 180 victims were reported during the second wave of the pandemic, that is, from mid-April to today.
According to information, Chittoor District remains second on the list of overall positive cases in the state and first when it comes to the total number of victims since the pandemic broke out.
Despite the alarming numbers, the tests remain inadequate, says a senior doctor attached to the laboratory tests. “Compared to the first wave, the number of tests currently running is insufficient. Until a few weeks after the start of the second wave, the number of daily tests in the entire district was around 3,000, while only a few days ago it gradually rose to over 8,000, ”he says.
When the spread peaked last year, the number of daily tests stayed above 10,000 and the positivity rate was considerably low. “We need to increase the number of tests to 15,000 a day, with a focus on rural areas,” the official said.
It is observed that the three to four day delay in getting results has led several people to opt for rapid tests, while many of those who test positive go home in isolation without attending the affected officers to inform.
Fear of catching the infection while standing in long queues at the testing centers has led more and more people to go to private laboratories while others take medication at home without informing officials. The rude handling of the queues in some centers by the field staff is also said to be a reason to drive the public towards private laboratories.
Some key COVID Task Force officials regretted that those doing the rapid tests in private laboratories run the risk of 60:40 “unsafe” results. As such, those who test negative take the results for granted and do not go to the RT-PCR tests for confirmed results. This contributes to the accident rate or last minute recording.