Chennai's test positivity rate plunges below 3 pc

According to data from the Corporation, the city logged only 935 new cases on Sunday out of 32,682 samples, which is only 2.86 per cent. The TPR was brought down to less than three per cent in when the severity of the first wave subsided. In February, it went down further to less than two per cent. But the month after that, it began rising again when the second wave hit the country and State. 

The data shows that test positivity rate in Chennai is less than five per cent for the last seven days from June 8. On that day, the TPR was five per cent, which fell to 3.2 per cent on June 12. The TPR had hit its peak on May 11, when 27.7 per cent of the samples tested were confirmed positive for the infection. 

Despite the decline in the number of cases reported every day, the Chennai Corporation had not taken the foot off the pedal, continuing to test around 30,000 samples every day. "During the peak of the second wave, residents themselves came forward for testing. So we did not have to force the neighbours those testing positive. Now, we are collecting samples from the neighbours," said a field official. 

As of Monday morning, there are 9,140 active cases in the city, which is around two per cent of the total cases reported since the outbreak. Also, none of the 15 zones in the Corporation has more than 1,000 active cases. Anna Nagar with 943 has the highest number of active cases, while Manali that has 203 cases is the lowest.