GUWAHATI: Assam minister of state for health, Pijush Hazarika has said that despite the surge in COVID-19 cases following increased rate of tests, the encouraging sign in the state’s battle against the virus is the drastic dip in the positivity rate of late.
The positivity rate, during the peak period earlier, Hazarika said was about 35 per cent. “However this rate has drastically come down to five per cent a few days back and now has dipped below 4 per cent,” he told reporters on Thursday.
“We are not perturbed by the surge in cases of late. Compared to about 1500 cases every day earlier, currently about 2000 cases on an average have been reported each day from various districts. However, our goal has been to conduct maximum tests per day and subsequently trace, treat and isolate COVID positive patients,” the minister said.
Assam has conducted over 11 lakh COVID-19 tests so far with as many as 59, 162 tests conducted between Tuesday and Wednesday evening.
The health department has been raising the bar in regard to conducting rapid antigen tests, also initiating community level tests including door-to-door tests in residential apartments.
On an average, the department has conducted over 50,000 tests since August 4.
“Now we have set a target of conducting one lakh tests on August 12. We believe we will be able to conduct more and more tests in the coming days, detect more cases and eventually reduce the scope of community transmission,” Hazarika said.