Covid-19: Delhi has highest infection rate, Tamil Nadu is showing recovery

India had tested 383,985 people as on April 19 and found 17,615 of them (4.6%) positive. As on April 1, the number of confirmed cases in India was 2,059, or 3.5% of 47,951 tests conducted until then

India’s coronavirus infection rate – positive results as a proportion of tests conducted – has increased sharply from 3.5 per cent on April 1 to 4.6 per cent on April 19, reveal data released by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR).

As on April 19, India had tested 383,985 people for Covid-19, and found 17,615 of them (4.6 per cent) to be positive for the virus. By comparison, the total number of confirmed cases in India as on April 1 was 2,059, or 3.5 per cent of the 47,951 tests conducted till then.

However, if one were to look at the same data in a different way, the tally of confirmed Covid-19 cases in India has seen a 10-fold growth since the start of the month, against an increase of about 14 times in the total number of tests conducted during the same period. India has significantly ramped up its testing capabilities lately to keep a check on the spread of coronavirus infections in the country. 

Among the 15 most affected Indian states with more than 100 confirmed Covid-19 cases, five have seen a spike in infection rate, and the rest a decline.

The sharpest rise in infection rate has been seen in Delhi – of around two percentage points between April 1 and 19. Delhi has tested 24,387 samples till April 19 and recorded 2,003 Covid-19-positive cases — an infection rate of 8.2 per cent. The best performance on this count has come from Tamil Nadu, where the infection rate has dropped from 13 per cent at the start of the month to 3.6 per cent now.

Delhi is followed by Gujarat, which has seen a rise of 1.6 percentage points in its infection rate during the same period. Its infection rate after testing 29,104 samples so far stands at 6 per cent.

Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the top two Indian states by number of tests conducted, have both seen a rise of one percentage point in their Covid-19 infection rates. As on April 19, they had conducted 66,796 and 51,614 tests, respectively, and had infection rates of 6.3 per cent and 3 per cent.

Tamil Nadu’s infection rate, meanwhile, fell to 3.6 per cent – a massive drop of nine-and-a-half percentage points from 13 per cent as on April 1. Tamil Nadu managed to increase the total number of tests by almost seven times during the period, and the total number of confirmed cases in the state grew by only two times. It is followed by West Bengal and Haryana, whose infection rates reduced by 3.9 and 3.8 percentage points, respectively.

While Maharashtra has conducted most number of tests on an absolute basis, Delhi tops the chart in terms of tests conducted per capita. The national capital has so far conducted 12.8 tests per 10,000 people – a substantial jump from 4.8 tests at the start of this month. 

 

Delhi is followed by Rajasthan, another state to have witnessed a massive increase in tests per capita during the same period. From 2.6 tests at the start of the month, it creased the count to 7.5 per 10,000 people. West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh feature at the bottom, with lowest improvement in tests per capita during the same period.