Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, September 4
A seroprevalence study conducted in Haryana found that the overall Covid positivity rate in the state was 8 percent in August, implying that eight out of 100 people may have contracted the virus and recovered from the disease.
Haryana Health Minister Anil Vij released the survey figures on Friday. It has been found that the urban population is more affected than the rural one.
“The seropositivity to SARS-CoV-2 (virus that causes Covid) in urban areas is 9.6% compared to 6.9% in rural pockets,” explained Rajeev Arora, Additional Chief Secretary (Health).
NCR districts were shown to have a high positivity rate: 25.8% in Faridabad (31.1% urban, 22.2% rural), 13.3% in Sonepat (18% urban, 10% rural) and 10.8% in Gurugram (18.5% in urban and 5.7% in rural).
A rate higher than the state average of 8% was also observed in districts such as Karnal (12.2), Jind (11), Kurukshetra (8.7), Charkhi Dadri (8.3) and Yamunanagar (8.3). Districts that have a rate lower than the state average include Panipat (7.4), Palwal (7.4), Panchkula (6.5), Jhajjar (5.9), Ambala (5.2), Rewari (4.9) and Sirsa (3.6) (see table for the last five districts).
Vij said the goal of the survey was to identify Covid penetration at the community level and monitor its transmission trends. Up to 850 samples were collected in each district.
“The situation is much better in Haryana. In the first survey, Gujarat averaged 17.68 percent, while it rose to 23.24 percent in the second. In Delhi, it was 23.9 and 29.1 percent, respectively. Mumbai slums accounted for 57 percent, ”added Vij.
