DEHRADUN: The four worst coronavirus-hit districts in Uttarakhand conducted the least COVID-19 tests per lakh, among the 13 districts of the state.
The four districts, namely Dehradun, Nainital, Udham Singh Nagar and Haridwar, have conducted only 55 per cent of tests (3.41 lakh of 6.15 lakh ) while they have 77 per cent (33,702 of 44,404) of total cases.
Anoop Nautiyal, whose Social Development for Communities Foundation, has been analysing the COVID-19 data in the state said, "the state government machinery should test more in the worst effected districts to break the chain. If this does not happen the situation could worsen in the near future."
Dehradun with 11,841 COVID-19 cases remains on top but has conducted only 4,555 tests per lakh till September 24. Least number of tests per lakh have been conducted by Nainital with 4,342 tests.
Highest number of tests per lakh have been conducted in Uttarkashi with 12235 tests followed by Champawat (10300), Rudraprayag (7977), Tehri Garhwal (6937), Chamoli (6726), Bageshwar (6440), Pithoragarh (6027), Almora (5656), Udham Singh Nagar (4757), Pauri (4566) and Haridwar (4390).
Till date over 6.15 lakh tests have been conducted in the hill state with over 44,000 testing positive.
In July, Uttarakhand ranked second among state and union territories of the country in terms of recovery rate from COVID-19 infection according to data released by union ministry of health and family welfare.
In a worrying development, the hill state recorded over 24,000 new cases in the past one month which is 64 per cent of the total cases reported so far.