Assam has seen an increase in positivity rate during COVID-19 testing in the month of September as compared to August despite testing fewer samples, official data shows.
In August, Assam had an average positivity rate of around 4.8 per cent and in September so far, the positivity rate is approximately 6.7 per cent. In August, over 13 lakh samples were tested and in September, nearly seven lakh have been tested till now, as per the daily state COVID updates.
While the number of tests conducted per day has taken a dip, positivity rate as well as mortality rate has increased substantially.
On September 3, Assam reported the highest COVID-19 positive rate, which stood at 7.44%.
Informing about the same, Assam health minister Himanta Biswa Sarma posted on Twitter, "Alert ~ 3555 #COVID cases detected today out of 47744 tests done in last 24 hours. Positivity Rate- 7.44%. Kamrup M- 924; Nagaon- 236; Dibrugarh- 213; Baksa- 200."
Similarly, on September 16, the positivity rate was 7.37 per cent for 32,478 samples tested and on September 18, it was 6.96 per cent for 36,027 samples. On September 19, for 35,175 samples tested, the positivity rate stood at 7.38 per cent.
However, officials in the state health department attribute the trend of increasing positivity rate to a change in testing strategy.
“The state is now conducting more “targeted” tests. Instead of conducting random tests, we are testing symptomatic patients and contacts of positive patients so the number of tests is comparatively less but the positivity rate are higher,” sources told G Plus.
