CHANDIGARH: Cumulative positivity rate for Covid-19 in Chandigarh has declined from 10.87% on June 30 to 9.50% on September 7. Experts feel that this trend since the last two months shows that the cases had been decreasing and attribute the same to extensive vaccination coverage in the city. Moreover, the public health experts predict that the third surge in the Tricity will not be massive unless there is a new variant of the virus in the country.
“There has been a decline in the number of new cases. There was one Delta Plus variant case here, but we could regulate its transmission,” said UT director health services Dr Amandeep Kang. She said, “The vaccination is extensive in the city and this has been helpful in containing the spread. Therefore, I do not see any reason for a huge surge now.”
In August there were 151 new cases, while in July there were 266 cases. The average cases a day have decreased from eight in July to five in August. There have been 16 cases reported in the last one week of this month. “This rapid decline indicates that vaccination and the previous exposure to the virus has been able to reduce the transmission rate. The third wave will be in some pockets in the Tricity and there will be few hospitalisations,” said a public health expert.
There is a new variant found in Columbia and UK, known as ‘Mu’. “However, nothing much is known about its rate of transmission and severity. There is a study in a laboratory on this variant which found that Pfizer/ BioNTech vaccine was less effective against this variant compared to other variants,” said another health expert.
