pune some districts in the state with high covid test positivity rates are still not tracing enough close contacts per confirmed casemaharashtra currently tracks an average of 16 people for every patient but some key districts including pune nagpur ahmednagar and kolhapur are tracing lower than the average in pune district for example authorities are tracing an average of just 13 close contacts per caseconcerned officials from the health department said they have asked all local authorities to step up surveillance especially in light of the delta variant which experts have said is more infectiousstate health minister rajesh tope has said that a minimum of 20 contacts must be traced per patientaccording to data shared by the state health department only thane and latur are tracing a good number of contacts at an average of 23 and 46 persons respectively the highest in the statethe centre too had called for adequate tracing testing and isolation increasing contact tracing is very important there should not be any setback in the numbers being traced a health ministry official saidthe health departments data shows most districts are tracing less than the state average of 16 close contacts per patient six highrisk and 10 lowrisk officials said the ideal number should be more than 20 to ensure clusters are stopped from formingpune district with an average of 13 contacts traced and among regions seeing a high number of cases has also been asked to scale up contact tracing only about three highrisk contacts per patient are being traced in the district currentlystate task force members said tracking and testing of contacts are vital contact tracing should be enhanced to 130 and 150 the current numbers are very poor we cannot be lethargic on this front said task force member dr shashank joshimembers said examples such as kolhapur with a high positivity rate despite increased vaccination coverage mean authorities have to watch out for breakthrough infections covid after inoculation