Punjab’s lowest rural positivity rate in Ludhiana district

Nitin Jain

Tribune News Service

Ludhiana, May 31

Having made a remarkable turnaround from being the worst-hit to the safest district in the state during the past over two weeks, Ludhiana has topped the state with the lowest Covid positivity rate in the rural areas last week.

The district reported a 2.7 per cent positivity rate in its villages between May 17 and 25, which was 59.52 per cent less than the state average of 6.67 per cent rural positivity rate, the data compiled by the Health and Family Welfare Department has revealed.

The analysis of rural-urban divide, a copy of which is available with The Tribune, showed that Ludhiana reported 7.2 per cent positivity rate in its urban areas, which was also sixth lowest in the state, and was 19.28 per cent less than Punjab’s average urban positivity rate of 8.92 per cent.

The districts, which reported better urban positivity rate than Ludhiana, were Tarn Taran with the state’s lowest 2.5 per cent, followed by Nawanshahr 2.8 per cent, Kapurthala and Ropar 4.4 per cent each, Hoshiarpur 5.8 per cent and Gurdaspur and Fatehgarh Sahib 6 per cent each.

Those with the higher positivity rate in the cities included Mohali with the state’s highest 16.4 per cent, followed by Ferozepur 15 per cent, Bathinda 13.2 per cent, Moga 11.6 per cent, Pathankot and Fazilka 10.4 per cent each, Jalandhar 10.3 per cent, Faridkot 9.6 per cent, Amritsar 9.5 per cent, Sangrur and Muktsar 8.3 per cent each, Patiala 7.9 per cent, Mansa 7.5 per cent and Barnala 7.3 per cent.

The districts with poor rural positivity rate were Fazilka with the state’s maximum 15.5 per cent, followed by Ferozepur 15 per cent, Ropar 14.3 per cent, Muktsar 12.1 per cent, Bathinda 11.1 per cent, Pathankot 10.6 per cent, Patiala 9.8 per cent, Mohali, Ferozepur and Mansa 8.9 per cent, Fatehgarh Sahib 7.7 per cent, Barnala 6.9 per cent, Hoshiarpur and Gurdaspur 6.6 per cent, Nawanshahr 6.4 per cent, Jalandhar 5.6 per cent, Faridkot 5.5 per cent, Tarn Taran 4.7 per cent, Moga 4.5 per cent, Sangrur and Kapurthala 3.9 per cent each, Amritsar 2.9 per cent, and Ludhiana with the lowest of 2.7 per cent.

As far as overall positivity rate was concerned, Ludhiana reported a daily average of 4.3 per cent between May 20 and 26, which was fifth lowest in the state and was 34.85 per cent less than the state’s average of 6.6 per cent during this period.

The districts with lower positivity rate than Ludhiana included Sangrur with the state’s lowest 3.7 per cent, followed by Kapurthala 3.8 per cent, Tarn Taran 4 per cent and Nawanshahr 4.1 per cent.

Among the worst-hit districts, Mohali and Fazilka continued to lead the state with the highest of 11.2 per cent average daily positivity rate each last week, followed by Bathinda 10.6 per cent, Pathankot 9.3 per cent, Ferozepur 9.1 per cent, Ropar 8.4 per cent, Patiala 7.8 per cent, Muktsar 7.6 per cent, Barnala 7.1 per cent, Amritsar and Jalandhar 6.7 per cent each.