Covid positivity rate ticks up

Health experts on Thursday said that a ‘slight increase’ has been witnessed in the coronavirus positivity ratio across the country, though the overall situation remained stable before the expected second wave of the contagion.

Positivity rates, which are being monitored in all pandemic-struck countries around the world, is the percentage of positive results out of the total number of tests sampled. According to the daily update of the NCOC, as many as 583 coronavirus cases were reported in a single day, bringing the country’s total tally to 316, 934.

The Covid-19 update was shared during a situational brief meeting of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) presided over by its head and Planning Minister Asad Umar, reads an official statement. It also reviewed the effects of opening up of various sectors with health guidelines and protocols.

Health experts apprised the forum about the pattern and prevalence of possible second wave in the world and particularly in the region. “The forum was apprised that there was a slight increase in positivity ratio and the number of coronavirus cases across the country, though the overall situation remained stable,” it reads.

It was highlighted that a decline has been witnessed in following health guidelines, including wearing masks, social distancing, and no mask no service protocols.

“Shaking hands has become a routine in total disregard for public safety and health,” it reads. It was mentioned that social events and large public gatherings particularly restaurants and marriage halls were identified as higher risk activities where guidelines were not being followed as directed by health experts.

The NCOC decided to review the present situation at length and formulate a comprehensive response to check any possible resurgence of the contagion to ensure public health and safety. The forum noted that the response plan would be shared with all stakeholders for their input and after consensus, an implementation strategy would be issued in the next few days.

Speaking on the occasion, Umar emphasised that public safety was of utmost importance and success of national anti-Covid efforts should not be allowed to go waste.

What is the “percent positive”?

According to the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, the percent positive is exactly what it sounds like: the percentage of all coronavirus tests performed that are actually positive, or: (positive tests)/(total tests) x 100%. The percent positive (sometimes called the “percent positive rate” or “positivity rate”) helps public health officials answer questions such as:

What is the current level of SARS-CoV-2 (coronavirus) transmission in the community?

Are we doing enough testing for the amount of people who are getting infected?

The percent positive will be high if the number of positive tests is too high, or if the number of total tests is too low. A higher percent positive suggests higher transmission and that there are likely more people with coronavirus in the community who haven’t been tested yet.

The percent positive is a critical measure because it gives us an indication how widespread infection is in the area where the testing is occurring—and whether levels of testing are keeping up with levels of disease transmission.