Recovery rate at a new low of 30.05 per cent in Kanpur

KANPUR : Despite Kanpur being a tier-one city of Uttar Pradesh with high-end medical infrastructure, it has not coped well with the pandemic and continues to evoke concern on all parameters.

For instance, the recovery rate of Covid-19 patients here has plummeted to 30.05%, the lowest since the first coronavirus case was reported from the city on March 23.

The mortality rate is 3.36 %, nearly double the state average. The positivity rate is 9.28%. These figures were calculated from the data available with the health authorities here till August 10.

As on August 10, Kanpur’s overall tally of Covid-19 cases stood at 8,436. A total of 2,580 patients have recovered so far. There are 4,692 active cases now, excluding home isolation cases, against a bed capacity of 1,980 at different government and private hospitals that are allowed to treat L1 (Level 1) and L2 (Level 2) patients. The death toll stood at 284.

Experts here said there were two reasons for the low recovery rate in Kanpur. First, the number of positive cases had increased five times since July 20, they said. For every six people being admitted in hospital at present, only one was getting discharged, said a senior member of the core team of the Kanpur chief medical officer (CMO).

Second, the L2 patients (those in need of oxygen) were now taking a much longer time to recover, the experts added. Earlier, the patients were recovering in eight days. The period now had stretched to a minimum of 22 to 30 days, they said.

“We have no answer as to why this recovery period has gone up. The focus is on ensuring the right treatment protocol,” said a senior doctor of the team.

Data showed that the recovery rate had been on a slide since April when it touched close to 90%. It was 65% in May, 56% in June and 55% in July. On August 9, it was 31.37% which furthered dipped on August 10. For example, 34 positive cases were reported on August 9 and only 40 were discharged that day. “This pattern has held during this month,” said the doctor.

When asked about the situation in Kanpur, chief medical officer Dr AK Mishra said the system was being strengthened and efforts were on to resolve the problem.

The state government on Monday decided to send two special secretary level officers to help the Kanpur administration in containing the spread of the coronavirus disease .