Sanjay Bumbroo Tribune News Service Mohali April 8 In view of a surge in Covid cases the district administration has ramped up its testing capacity. In September 2020 the peak time of the pandemic an average 1100 tests were being conducted daily. The figure has shot up to more than 2200 in April this year. According to information in September last year the Health Department had conducted 32747 Covid tests and 6254 were found positive showing 19 per cent positivity rate. In March this year 41336 persons underwent the Covid test and 6388 of them were found infected showing 15 per cent positivity rate. However 17976 tests were conducted in the eight days of April and the reports of 3281 were positive showing an increased positivity rate of 18.2 per cent. On an average about 80 to 90 persons were admitted to the ICU in September while in April this year 129 patients have been provided intensive care. Among them 57 were in ICU O2 level 22 in ICU ventilator (NIV) eight in ICU invasive ventilation 17 in ICU HFNC and 25 in ICU at room temperatures. Deputy Commissioner Girish Dayalan said the district was gradually ramping up the testing capacity. As per the data Mohali district was conducting 1700 tests per million population while Punjab was conducting 1086 tests. He said at present the district was tracing at least 19 contacts of every person found infected with the virus. The DC said the district had 379 beds dedicated to Covid patients. Dayalan said “While we continue to make critical progress it is important that we dont panic but follow the Covid-appropriate behaviour and the government guidelines so that together we fight the deadly virus. The government Covid vaccination centres are open seven days a week. All those eligible for vaccination should come forward over the weekend and get themselves inoculated.”

Stay updated with all the Chandigarh Latest News headlines here. For more exclusive & live news updates from all around India, stay connected with NYOOOZ.