May added half of total virus deaths

CHANDIGARH: A month back when the skyrocketing medical oxygen demand had set the alarm bells ringing, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had described as “tsunami” the second Covid-19 wave which in May has left behind a trail of death and devastation.

“One can expect a deluge in the rainy season and prepare accordingly, but what has hit us is nothing short of a tsunami,” Khattar had said in a news conference as the public in the streets panicked and even highheeled people struggled to get a bed in the hospitals.

And what followed was the scarcity of medical oxygen and the unnerving scale of the body bags that poured out of the homes and hospitals in May when almost 50% (4,005) of the total (8,221) deaths due to coronavirus took place in a month in Haryana.

According to the analysis of the daily health bulletin data up to May 30, 2021, May has been the deadliest ever since the Wuhan virus was detected in Haryana in February 2020.

In April this year, Haryana recorded the second highest 1,061 fatalities, 107 in March, 30 in February and 113 in January.

On the other hand, till May 31, 2020, the death toll in Haryana due to Covid-19 was 20 and it began mounting after that. For example, the virus claimed 216 lives in June, 185 in July, 268 in August, 693 in September, 407 in October, 639 in November and 477 in December.

Hisar has been the worst affected district where 860 people (420 in May alone) have died. The infection has claimed 328 lives in May in Gurugram out of total 804 fatalities.

More cases in may than total of last year

Haryana had detected 2.62 lakh total positive cases till December 31, 2020. But in May the state recorded over 2.67 lakh Covid-19 positive cases, a clear indicator of how and why everybody including the health institutions were overburdened.

While over 16.26 lakh samples were taken in May, Haryana had barely crossed the 16 lakh mark of total sample collected till September 17-18, 2020. Over 3.39 lakh people also recovered during the month and the recovery rate saw 16.98% jump.

As per the data, in April, over 11.38 lakh samples were collected and over 1.97 lakh new infections were detected in the state. However, the recovery rate in April dipped by 16.43% as the recovery rate which was 95.57% on March 31 came down to 79.14% on April 30.

4,087 OF THE 8,303 VIRUS-RELATED DEATHS IN STATE OCCURRED IN MAY