Haryana testing shows an uneven trend, hotspots lag behind Gurugram

Gurgaon: Although Haryana is among 15 states that have tested the highest number of people for Covid-19, nearly a fifth of all its tests were conducted in Gurgaon, data shows. So far, the city has conducted 1.3 lakh tests, which accounts for 17% of the state’s total, which stands at 7.7 lakh.

Worryingly, however, some of Haryana’s districts, which have emerged as hotspots this month, are way behind in testing compared to Gurgaon, which has seen a dip of more than 30% in active cases in this period.

For instance, Faridabad, the worst-hit district, has 6% more Covid cases than Gurgaon, but has carried out 34% fewer tests (88,389). Similarly, Panipat, which has the highest number of active cases (680) after Faridabad (928), has conducted just 21,233 tests so far, 84% less than Gurgaon’s figure.

In fact, Faridabad comes closest to the number of tests conducted in Gurgaon. Districts that follow Faridabad — Sonipat, Rohtak and Ambala — have tested 55%, 60% and 70% less than Gurgaon.

Also, some districts that have seen cases stabilise over the last one month have tested more than some of those that have seen a massive spike in active cases in the same period. Panchkula, which grew from 29 active cases on July 11 to 405 active cases on August 11, has tested just 21,935 people, much less than Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonipat, which saw a decline in active cases in the last 30 days. Panchkula has also conducted an abysmally low number of antigen tests — just six.

As per the data shared by the health department, apart from Panchkula, two other districts have conducted less than 1,000 antigen tests so far — Charkhi Dadri (827) and Kurukshetra (955).

On the other hand, Rewari, which has added just 27 active cases in the last 30 days, the lowest among districts where active cases have grown, has seen ramped up testing, over 800%, in the same period, from 2,768 tests to 26,070 tests.

Other districts that have more than 1,000 cases but have tested less than Gurgaon and Faridabad are Sonipat with 34,165 tests, Sonipat with 59,227, Ambala with 39,379, Rohtak with 52,002, Karnal with 33,176, Hisar with 31,398 and Palwal with 21,659.

At present, Gurgaon is conducting 89,117 tests per million – the highest among all the districts. It is followed by Rohtak, which is conducting 49,120 tests per million and Faridabad with 47,569 tests per million. Jind (14,230), Nuh (14,795) and Sirsa (16,246) are the three places testing the least number of people per million population.

When asked about the present lag in testing in other districts, said, Dr Dhruv Chaudhary, the nodal officer for Covid-19 in Haryana and the head of the department of pulmonary and critical care at PGIMS Rohtak, said, “We have already asked all districts to ramp up testing. We will analyse the situation in a week to ensure they are conducting the desired testing to isolate patients.”