Ranchi sees decline in case growth in the week gone by
RANCHI: State capital Ranchi, which is the hardest hit district by the Covid-19 pandemic, has reported a sharp decline in growth of cases and a significant rise in recovery of patients in last seven days. Till Sunday morning, Ranchi’s case tally stood at 77,444, including 19,474 active cases, according to state health department’s daily bulletin.
The district saw 35% decline in case last week (May 2-8) in comparison to the preceding week (April 25-May 1).
While 10,738 cases were discovered between April 25- May 1, only 7,054 cases were unearthed between May 2 and 8.
The district’s recovery rate also improved, with 7,346 patients discharged between
May 2 and 8. In the preceding week, the number of recoveries was 5,074.
Ranchi discovered over 1,000 cases on a daily basis since April 13 till May 1. It saw its highest ever single-day spike on April 28 with 1,771 new cases.
In early April, when the pandemic’s second wave hit the state hard, cases started rising at a breakneck pace, overstressing the health infrastructure. The capital city suffered the most with almost all its hospitals running with full occupancy, besides the daily rising toll.
The city, like other districts, also faced shortage of oxygen cylinders and life-saving drugs. In order to bring the situation under control, the state government imposed a partial lockdown in the fourth week of last month, beginning April 22.
According to health experts, the lockdown was responsible for the improved the situation, as there was a decline in number of Covid-19 patients reaching hospitals.
Dr Dewesh Kumar, assistant professor of department of preventive and social medicine, RIMS, said, “The lockdown has definitely slowed down spread of the disease. If we see results of sample tests conducted at RIMS laboratory, we can say that positivity rate has gone down. We saw positivity rate as high as 45% on April 17, when 278 positive cases were detected after testing 605 samples. On Saturday, we saw only 72 samples testing positive out of total 360, with the positivity rate at 20%. Besides, we have noticed that there has been a significant decline in number of people seeking beds and Remdesivir injections.”
Dr Kumar added, “Around 10-12 days back, we received at least 150 phone calls daily for beds. Nowadays, we hardly get 25 calls. Besides, we have been noticing a decline in number of patients seeking telemedicine. This is the result of the lockdown and increased alertness among people in this critical phase.”
According to Dr Kumar, the peak of cases has already come in Jharkhand. “I personally feel that the state has attained the peak and now the cases will decline. Due to lockdown, the growth trajectory will remain flat, but high number of cases will keeping coming till Mayend,” he said. According to May 9 morning bulletin, the state has so far reported 282,174 cases and 3,756 deaths.