Chennai: After clocking 37 per cent COVID-19 positivity ratio a month ago, the city has now brought it down to around 12 per cent following measures such as ramped up testing and increased surveillance, a top official of the Greater Chennai Corporation said here on Saturday.
The government announcing a 12-day lockdown last month had also been largely beneficial as it reduced people's
mobility, GCC Commissioner G Prakash said. Ramped up testing for coronavirus, fever camps and door surveillance have brought down the positivity ratio to 10-12 per cent from about 35-37 per cent just a month ago, he told reporters here.
Since March, the civic body has conducted over five lakh RT-PCR tests. "A month ago, we increased the testing as per Chief Minister K Palaniswami's instruction. This has been a major turning point (in bringing down the positivity ratio).
As of today we have achieved a positivity ratio of 10-12 per cent, from about 35-37 per cent a month ago," he said.
"When 4,000 samples were tested in the past, there were 1,400-1,500 positive cases. And of the 13,000 samples being tested now, only 1,200 to 1,250 positive cases are being reported," Prakash added.
The Chief Minister's decision on enforcing the lockdown, which reduced the people's mobility, created a conducive
atmosphere to increase the testing and step up the household surveillance, he said.
The metropolis had earlier reported heavy caseload of the virus, sharing a big chunk of daily numbers of the infections reported all over from the state.
The government had, among others, cited the population density, especially in many of the narrow lanes, as the key to the fast spread of the pandemic in this city.