State increases COVID-19 testing

Kolkata: The state government has seen a significant increase in COVID testing facilities since May which has been a major contributor to the growth of new cases.

The data released by the state Health department shows that in the first 56 days after the first COVID positive case was reported in Bengal on March 17, the average testing was 850 per day which increased to 7,310 per day between May 12 and May 16. Again, between May 17 and June 2 it rose further to 9,349 per day and presently since June 3 it has gone further to 9,669 per day.

"Since April 30 , there was only 15 testing facilities in the state that increased to 44 till June 6.29 testing facilities that includes both government and private have come up in the month of May and the first week of June that has seen steep rise in COVID tests conducted per day. This is surely a major contributor to the exponential growth in cases, apart from the entry of migrant workers," a senior official of the Health department said.

There has been over 400 COVID positive cases in the last three consecutive days with the state taking just five days from June 3 to June 7 to register 2,000 cases- the shortest time taken by the state to reach from 6168 to 8187. On June 2 the number of cases was 6168 and it rose to 8187 on June 7 – exhibiting 403.8 cases per day.

The first case in the state was registered on March 17 but it was on May 11 the number of COVID positive patients reached 2000. After that the state took 15 days and 7 days respectively to cross the 4000 and 6000 milestone.

The positivity rate has also showed a spike in the month of June which has been a concern for the Health department.

On May 11 the positivity was 4.33 percent that came down to 2.55 percent on May 26 and slightly increased and reached to 2.77 percent on June 2 which was below the national average of 2.8 per cent. However, on June 7 it reached 3.02 per cent.