Even after the daily COVID-19 infections and the death rate have come down significantly, the Union Health Ministry on Thursday said the positivity rate in eight states and union territories is worrying.
"It is definitely worrying that the weekly positivity rate in these eight states and union territories are more than the national positivity rate. We are in contact touch with the administrations and are sending national team," Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said at a press briefing.
India has a weekly positivity rate of 1.82 per cent, whereas the weekly positivity rate of Kerala is 11.20%, Chhattisgarh 6.20%, Maharashtra 4.70%, Goa 4.40%, Nagaland 3.60%, Ladakh 2.90%, Puducherry 2.60% and Chandigarh 2.10%.
Meanwhile, according to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), 19,92,16,019 samples have been tested for detection of COVID-19 up to February 3 with 7,42,841 samples being tested on Wednesday. The test per million stands at 1,44,359.
"If we see the trend of cumulative COVID-19 positivity rate on the basis of tests conducted, it has declined from 8.89 per cent on August 4 to 5.42 per cent on February 4," Bhushan said.
He further said that two states -- Kerala (69,365) and Maharashtra (38,762) -- account for 70 per cent of the total active cases in the country. Bhushan said that 47 districts have not reported any new case of COVID-19 in the last three weeks, while 251 districts have not reported any new death during the same period.
