Covid-19 curve flattening in Haryana, 2nd wave thinning out
CHANDIGARH: The coronavirus growth curve in Haryana which started to decline four weeks ago is flattening, conclusively indicating the culmination of the second wave.
Tracking the trajectory of the virus which went through the roof in the first week of May, recording more than one lakh infections in a week, a health department analysis showed that there was a 93% decrease in the number of cases. As against 1.01 lakh cases reported between May 3 and 9 which was the peak of the viral spread, only 6,902 infections were reported from the state last week (May 31-June 6).
Additional Chief Secretary (ACS), health, Rajeev Arora said that second wave of the virus spread was on a steep decline.
Statistics showed that the number of cases started to decline in the second week of May when the weekly number came down to 78,350 cases, dipped to 43,601 in the third week and 17,361 in the fourth week.
The number of active cases as on Monday was about 8,000 while 7,425 patients were kept in home isolation (as on June 5).
Correspondingly, the number of deaths, which also hit a peak in the first week of May with 1,119 fatalities, came down to 491 in the last week of May.
Statistics show that about 39% of the total deaths due to the viral infection have been from rural areas of the state. About 50% of the casualties have been from the 55-74 age group and 37% of the dead
NUMBER OF DEATHS, WHICH HIT A PEAK IN THE FIRST WEEK OF MAY WITH 1,119 FATALITIES, DIPPED TO 491 IN THE LAST WEEK OF MAY
patients were women. “In fact, 57% of those who succumbed to the virus were senior citizens, above 60 years,’’ said an official.
Statistics showed that 16 districts continued to have cumulative positivity rate of more than 6%. However, if one takes into consideration the positivity rate of last week, then 13 districts have positivity rate of less than 6%. “This is due to the sharp drop in the infection rate,” said an official. Health officials said that during the screening of rural population under the Haryana Villagers General Health Check-up Scheme, 3,465 positive cases have been detected in the last 22 days with a cumulative positivity rate of 2.83%.
Officials said 34.61 lakh households in rural, per urban and high-risk areas were screened by teams in which 1.70 crore population was screened for presence of influenza-like illness (ILI). Out of these, 1.21 lakh people with ILI were tested for rapid antigen test (RAT). About 325 patients were treated through village isolation centres and most of them improved to go back home safely. At present, no patient is admitted at these centres, as per an analysis. However, the rural screening and testing data is disputed by politicians across the spectrum.