Kochi: Ernakulam district is witnessing a worrying increase in test positive rate (TPR) with the TPR shooting past the 50 per cent mark in eight panchayats.
Authorities are also concerned over the COVID-19 situation in areas under the Kochi Corporation and the 13 municipalities.
Chellanam panchayat recorded the highest TPR in the district with 56.27 per cent. Out of the 574 people who had undergone laboratory tests in the suburban coastal village, SARS-CoV-2 was present in 323 samples. The COVID-19 spread was reported to be intense in Kadamakkudy and Kumbalangi panchayats.
TPR is the percentage of people who test positive for the virus out of the total number of people tested.
Besides Chellanam, Kadamakkudy and Kumbalangi, Chengamanad, Choornikkara, Kadungalloor, Thuravoor and Pallippuram panchayats also reported TPRs above 50 per cent.
Eloor, Mulavukad, Cherappuzha, Varappuzha and Njarakkal areas, located adjacent to Kochi city, have a TPR of above 40 per cent along with 27 other panchayats.
The TPR in Eloor was 48.08 per cent. Kalamassery, Maradu, Trippunithura and North Paravur municipalities, too, were showing an unabated surge in COVID-19 cases.
With 5,361 new COVID-19 cases on Friday, the district has 64,453 patients undergoing treatment. Ernakulam, with a TPR of over 30 per cent, has the most number of COVID-19 patients in the State. The lockdown that came into force on Saturday morning is expected to check the spread of the infection.
