From June to July, Ggm's doubling rate jumps from 8 days to 74 days

Gurugram: From eight days in June, Gurugram's doubling rate of COVID-19 cases has seen an apparently dramatic improvement in July, by when the doubling rate of cases had increased to 74 days. With more than 9,200 cumulative cases, the district, however, continues to be the worst affected in the state.

Despite this, officials in the district administration have heaved a sigh of relief, saying that the high number of recoveries over the last few weeks has reduced the number of active patients to below 900.

Significantly, Gurugram has consistently seen less than 100 daily cases for the last five days, which is in stark contrast to adjoining districts like Faridabad and Rewari, where the pandemic continues to rage unabated. Precisely because of this, officials here have said that the situation in Gurugram is still precarious and warned residents against complacency.

Despite the positive outlook that recovery numbers and the doubling rate provide, some worrying signs include a relatively high daily positivity rate, which still stands at above 8 per cent. In comparison, Delhi's positivity rate is currently around 5 per cent.

Besides, what is adding to the concerns of public health officials here is the increasing number of cases coming from the outskirts. In addition to increasing the number of containment zones in areas like Sohna and Manesar, officials are planning to ramp up testing in these areas.

As for testing, a comparative analysis of official COVID-19 data compiled and released by the Gurugram Health Department shows that authorities here have managed to increase testing by over 3.6 times from June to July. While the district had tested a little over 19,000 samples in June, that number increased to 69,306 the following month.

But officials in the district also have to find a way to resist conducting a large number of rapid antigen tests, which have proven to be less accurate. While testing numbers have increased, most of them are rapid antigen tests. Data shows that of the nearly 70,000 tests in July, nearly 60 per cent (41,025) were Rapid Antigen Tests.

According to health officials, their main objective now is to reduce the number of deaths and bring the fatality rate down. It is still hovering between 1.3 to 1.4 per cent as of now. The health officials acknowledge that a large number of COVID-19 cases continue to pose a considerable challenge in bringing down the fatality rate.

"Testing, tracing and treatment' has been our main mantra to tackle COVOD-19. With a large number of asymptomatic patients, our main objective was to quickly track them through testing and put them under isolation so that the others are not affected. The faith and the discipline shown by the Gurugram residents along with the dedicated hard work of the Gurugram District Administration have resulted in the improvement of the situation," a senior official from Gurugram Health Department said.