THE INDUSTRIAL city of Pimpri-Chinchwad recorded 425 Covid-19 cases on Wednesday, which is the highest figure for any given day in over two months. Health officials from the PCMC said the rising trend of positive cases was worrisome and sought people's cooperation in containing the spread of the virus. "We have registered less than 100 positive cases in the initial days of this month. But this week there is a sudden spurt in positive cases. Every day, we are registering more than 200 cases indicating the spread of the virus," PCMC additional health chief Dr Pavan Salve told The Indian Express. According to health officials, from Sunday to Wednesday, Pimpri-Chninchwad recorded over 1,100 positive cases. On Sunday, 298 positive cases were recorded, the figure stood at 223 on Monday, 204 on Tuesday, and the single highest positive figure of 425 on Wednesday. With this, the total number of positive cases reported from Pimpri-Chinchwad stands at 1,04,050. Over 99,053 have been discharged from hospitals. "We have around 3,100 active cases," said Dr Salve. Of these, around 700 are admitted in hospital and rest in home isolation. Dr Salve said in the initial days of February, the civic body was conducting less than 1,000 tests. "This has now jumped to 1,800 to 2,000. It is going up daily as more patients are testing positive," he said. Dr Salve said in January and early February, the positivity rate was 5 per cent or lower than that. "However, from the last week or so, it has jumped to 25 per cent. Our daily figures of positive cases were less than 100 in the initial days of this month. However, we are now getting 200-plus Covid cases every day," he said. Dr Salve further said crowding and lax attitude of the public at large have resulted in the spike in cases. "As cases were going down in December and January, people shunned masks and had a lax attitude towards the use of sanitiser. There was crowding at marketplaces and marriages. We have received complaints that at several marriages, people roamed without masks. The situation was same at markets. The trend is worrisome, we need citizens cooperation to control the spread of the virus," he said. Dr Salve also said flying squads were on the job to keep an eye on those flouting safety norms. "Besides, beat marshals are also being appointed," he said. He said squads were targeting crowded places such as markets, marriage halls, shopping malls, hotels and restaurants. "We are keeping a close watch on the movement of people at these places and taking action if they are found to be violating Covid norms," he added. Meanwhile, Municipal Commissioner Rajesh Patil has directed health officials to ensure that Covid-19 test reports are available within 24 hours, with the positivity rate jumping from 5 per cent to 23 per cent. The PCMC has a testing laboratory at YCM hospital and municipal commissioner Rajesh Patil directed that the lab should ensure that test reports are available within 24 hours. "To reduce the rate of infection, it is important to conduct more tests. At the same time, test reports should be available on time. The health department should ensure that reports are available as early as possible, could be within 24 hours," Patil directed health officials. - Stay updated with the latest Pune news. Follow Express Pune on Twitter here and on Facebook here. You can also join our Express Pune Telegram channel here.
