Chennai's test positivity rate rises by 600 pc in 1 week

With the Omicron variant of Covid spreading fast in Chennai, the test positivity rate (TPR) has witnessed a steep rise from 1 per cent to more than 7 per cent in one week.

According to government data, as many as 20,415 samples were tested on Wednesday of which 1,489 samples turned positive for the disease, which is 7.3 per cent TPR.

On December 28, the TPR was at 1 per cent. As many as 19,869 samples were tested on the day but only 194 were tested positive.

When asked, a Chennai Corporation senior official said that the rise in TPR suggests the increased speed of the spread of Omicron. He added that most of the samples sent for whole genomic sequencing are turned out to be Omicron.

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