Punjab continues to have worst death rate in region
PATIALA: Punjab continues to have the highest Covid-19 fatality rate in the region comprising the neighbouring states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh as well as the union territories of Chandigarh, Ladakh, and Jammu and Kashmir.
This despite the fact that the state health department had constituted a special team of experts to bring down the number of deaths due to the virus. Even as Haryana has double the caseload of Punjab, its fatality rate is half than its immediate neighbour.
Punjab has a fatality rate of 2.45%, followed by Jammu and Kashmir (1.88%), Chandigarh (1.68%), Haryana (1.16%), Ladakh (0.54%) and Himachal Pradesh at 0.42%.
Even Punjab’s fatality rate is higher than the national average, which is 2.04%. As per figures, 562 of the 22,938 people having tested positive for the coronavirus in Punjab died due to the infection.
On the other hand, 474 of the 40,843 people found infected in Haryana lost their lives.
In J&K, 459 deaths were reported of a total 24, 390 cases while 14 fatalities took place against 3,264 cases in HP. Chandigarh has witnessed 24 deaths of 1,426 cases of the coronavirus and Ladakh has recorded 9 deaths out of 1,639 cases till August 9.
A senior health department official said, “Less number of tertiary healthcare institutes is the main reason behind more deaths in Punjab. The state has only three tertiary institutes — Government Medical Colleges in Amritsar, Patiala and Faridkot. The neighbouring states have more such facilities.”
State Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said, “Punjab’s fatality rate is higher because more patients with comorbidities are getting infected by Covid-19 as compared to other states.”
“All deaths were reported in tertiary healthcare centres where the facilities of intensive care unit (ICU) and ventilators are available. There is no issue of lack of facilities,” he claimed.