Coimbatore: Covid cases surge after reduction in sample size

The active Covid-19 cases in the district is on the rise for the past few days reportedly because the district Health Department decreased the number of samples tested per million population.
Representational Image. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)
Representational Image. (Photo | Shekhar Yadav, EPS)

COIMBATORE: The active Covid-19 cases in the district is on the rise for the past few days reportedly because the district Health Department decreased the number of samples tested per million population.

It was reported that the rise in the positivity rate is 15 per cent, while it was 8.39 per cent a week ago.

During the third week of July, the department tested 6,003 samples per million but the number drastically came down to 3,979 samples in August. According to the official sources, the number of sample size was reduced after the department was told to maintain a steady rate of fresh cases. However, with the increase in the number of positive cases, the department has ramped up the sample size.

Going by the data as in daily bulletin, the active cases of Coimbatore on August 5 was 1,571, while the tally on Tuesday was 1,738.
"The department would test the samples like the way it tested a few weeks ago. The decrease in sample size may attribute for the rise in active cases, and positivity rate," said an official.

Meanwhile, the district's fatality rate has currently reduced to 1.5 per cent from over 2 per cent a couple of weeks ago.

The official added, "The positivity rate could be brought down by more testing samples per day. We would make sure the samples being tested are mostly from the hotspot as a means to diagnose the infected persons at an early stage."

Some of the clusters in Coimbatore which are constantly recording fresh Covid cases are Selvapuram, Ukkadam, RS Puram, PN Palayam, Kuniyamuthur, Peelamedu, Gandhipuram, among others.

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