RAT reveals new hotspots: Jammu infection rate 8.07%, Srinagar 6.6%

In 3 weeks, actives cases in Jammu up 7 times

JAMMU: While the Winter Capital of Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir has seen a sharp rise in COVID-19 cases in past three weeks, on the other hand, the Summer Capital Srinagar, which was until now a hotspot, has registered a significant decline.
If the data provided by the administration in its daily media bulletin was not enough, the ongoing Rapid Antigen Test (RAT) drives in both the capital cities have further reaffirmed the changing reality, calling for more precautions.
The targeted RAT drives which were launched in Jammu and Srinagar on August 26 and September 3, respectively, have put the infection rate for both the districts, at 8.07%, and 6.61% respectively.
An analysis of the ongoing RAT drive in Jammu district reveals that 59711 tests have been conducted in the winter capital since 26th August, out of which 4821 persons have turned out positive.
The infection rate of the district, as such, stands at 8.07%.
In twenty-one days of RAT drive in Jammu district, 36270 tests have been conducted in urban areas, 13164 in rural areas and 10277 were mobile tests, wherein urban areas reported 2802 positive cases, rural areas reported 1058 positive cases and mobile testing reported 961 positive cases. Thus, the positivity rate found in Jammu urban is 7.72%, in Jammu rural it is 8.03% and 9.35% in mobile testing vans which traverse throughout rural and urban areas.
Meanwhile, in Srinagar, where RAT drive was launched on 3rd September, 32000 people have been sampled, out of which 2116 have turned out to be positive, and the positivity rate here stands at 6.61%.
The District Disaster Management Authority, Srinagar, is initiating second phase of mass testing beginning 17th September 2020 with aim to test more than 60,000 citizens in municipal wards.
The RAT drive with focus on vulnerable clusters like markets, work places, government and private offices etc was undertaken following the directions of Chief Secretary BVR Subrahmanyam for preparation of a strategic plan to sweep-clean district of Jammu, Udhampur and Rajouri of all positive cases through a massive testing exercise with focus on red zones and other areas which have higher incidence of COVID-19 cases.
It is also interesting to note that contrary to the perception that penetration of Covid-19 in Jammu region was way lower than in the Kashmir Valley, the ten districts of the division have seen a gargantuan spike in the infections and the subsequent deaths, fuelled mainly by the Jammu district, the new Coronavirus hotspot of Jammu and Kashmir.
In past three weeks, the winter capital has seen its active positive grow by 7 times—708% while the deaths due to the deadly infections have increased by 167%, in the same period.
The other capital, Srinagar which seemingly, till three weeks ago, was the only part of the union territory with Covid-19 spread, has done great in containing the cases, registering a growth of only 22.61% (active positives) in the past three weeks. The deaths in Srinagar have increased only by 22.59%, in the same period of time, in stark contrast to 167.56% growth in the winter capital.
Srinagar district which held the unwanted tag of topper in the covid-19 bulletin for the longest time, mainly due to influx of patients from the other 9 districts of the Valley to the summer capital has done great to contain the fresh infections in recent past, while Jammu district has managed the contrary in last three weeks, becoming the new hotspot of Jammu and Kashmir.
On August 26, Srinagar district had 8553 total cases out of which 1552 were active positive while Jammu district had 2561 total cases, with 744 of them active. Three weeks later, Srinagar has recorded 3389 new cases, an increase of 39.62% while Jammu witnessed 6437 new infections, a spike of 251.34%.
However, where the Srinagar shines is the effective management of COVID-19 infections, beginning from the tracing, sampling and treatment of patients, with symptomatic patients being hospitalised.
During this 20-day period, Jammu district recorded 5273 new active positive cases, a spike of 708.73% while Srinagar managed to check the growth from 1552 to 1903, an increase of 351 active cases or 22.61% percent.
The deaths in Jammu increased by 62 (a growth of 167.56%), while the Srinagar district witnessed a spike of 22.59%, in last three weeks.