08 October,2020 05:51 AM IST | Mumbai | Prajakta Kasale
A swab sample is being collected for a COVID-19 test at the Jain Health Care Centre at Dadar West on September 29. Pic/Suresh Karkera
While the number of tests for COVID-19 has doubled from an average of 6,000 per day in July to over 12,000 per day now, the number of cases has also risen and the Total Positivity Rate (TPR) of the city remains above 18 per cent.
In the past three weeks, the number of tests done was over 11,000 day. Last week, it crossed 12,000 per day. But the TPR has not reduced. The TPR shows how many patients tested positive among 100 people. It is an indicator that an adequate number of tests are being done. While the World Health Organisation has recommended that the TPR value be below 5 per cent, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said it must be below 10 per cent. The TPR rate was above 28 per cent in June in Mumbai, when an average of 4,408 tests were conducted every day.
In July the number of tests increased to 6,399 per day and the TPR came down to 18.7 per cent. In August the number of the average tests per day further increased to 7,801 and TPR fell to 13 per cent which was close to the ICMR recommendation.
The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) pushed the number of tests. In September while the average number of tests escalated to 11,796 per day, the TPR value shot up to 17 per cent. While from September 13 to 19, the TPR was slightly lower, it went up to 18.3 per cent. The average TPR from March to October 4 was 18.35 per cent.
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"The detection of positive cases has increased. If the number of tests is increased further, the cases will rise. But most of the cases are asymptomatic. The focus should be on restricting the spread through social distancing and treatment for symptomatic patients," said a ward officer of the BMC.
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