At least two Karnataka districts – Ballari and Uttara Kannada – are among India’s top five districts reporting the highest Covid-19 test positivity rate in what may be an indication of how the epidemic is moving from large urban centres to the districts.
While Mahe in Puducherry report the highest positivity rate of 60.3%, followed by Bharatpur (52%) and Rajsamand (50%) in Rajasthan, Ballari with 46.9% positivity comes to a close fourth followed by Uttara Kannada (46.4%).
Three other Karnataka districts with more than 40% test positivity rates are Mysuru (44.4%), Shivamogga (42.5%) and Hassan (41%), according to the district-wise test positivity data released by the Union Health Ministry on Sunday.
While making a list of top 10 districts, DH excluded districts in Arunachal Pradesh or Lahaul and Spiti in Himachal Pradesh where the positivity rate is very high because of the districts’ ultra low population level.
Other districts reporting more than 40% positivity are Bikaner (46%), Puducherry (45.3%) Katni (45.3%), Rewari (45%), Panipat (42.4%), 24 Parganas North (43.9%), Kolkata (42.3%), North Goa (41%) and Tirivannamalai (40.9%).
While the national positivity rate stands at 18.5%, there are 490 districts that report more than 40% test positivity rate, giving clear evidence of runway Covid-19 infections in large parts of the country including the hinterland.
According to the union health ministry, Karnataka has 30 such districts of which five record more than 40% positivity whereas 13 logs a positivity between 30-39%. In Belgavi, it is 39.4% while in Bengaluru Urban the positivity rate is 32%.