Vardhan expresses concern over high fatality rate in Maharashtra, Gujarat

NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan on Wednesday expressed concern over high fatality rate among COVID-19 patients in some districts of Maharashtra and Gujarat, asking the two states to focus on early surveillance and aggressive contact tracing.

The death toll due to COVID-19 rose to 1,694 and the number of cases climbed to 49,391 across the country on Wednesday, registering an increase of 126 deaths and 2,958 cases in the last 24 hours since 8 am on Tuesday, according to the Union Health Ministry.

The number of active COVID-19 cases stood at 33, 514 while a total of 14,183 people have recuperated in the country so far. “In the last 24 hours, 1,457 patients have recovered, taking the total recovery rate to 28.72 per cent,” the ministry said.

Vardhan held a high-level meeting with Gujarat Deputy Chief Minister and Health Minister Nitinbhai Patel and Maharashtra Health Minister Rajesh Tope as the states reported 368 and 617 COVID-19 fatalities respectively.

In the meeting, Vardhan stressed on the need for proper interventions like screening and testing of severe acute respiratory infections (SARI) and Influenza Like Illness (ILI) cases as this may prevent spread of infection in other areas.

“Implementation of effective containment strategy needs to be on the top priority of the states to reduce the mortality rate. It is the need of the hour to take preventive, pre-emptive and comprehensive measures in a systematic manner and follow

the protocols laid down by the Centre to prevent occurrence of fresh cases,” he said.

It was pointed out that in some cases, the patients either suppressed the information of their infection or reported late to the hospitals for treatment, which may be indicative of some fear or stigma associated with COVID-19.

The Union minister urged the states to ensure that persons aged more than 65 years and having any non-communicable disease are screened on priority in the Ayushman Bharat-health and Wellness Centers.

Vardan also pointed out that in compliance of the guidelines issued by the Centre, nonCOVID-19 essential health services such as antenatal care, immunisation drives, tuberculosis case finding and treatment, providing blood transfusion for dialysis patients, treatment of cancer patients among others should not be neglected.

Meanwhile, Maharashtra on Wednesday reported 1,233 new COVID-19 cases - a fresh single-day high - taking the tally to 16,758, while 34 deaths raised the toll to 651, a health department official said.

This was the first time the state reported new COVID- 19 cases in four digits in a single day, he said.

As many as 34 more patients - 25 of them in Mumbai - succumbed to the infection, taking the toll to 651, said the official.

Maharashtra COVID-19 figures are as follows: Positive cases 16,758, new cases 1,233, deaths 651, discharged 3,094, active cases 13,013, people tested so far 1,90,879. Gujarat on the other hand reported 380 new Coronavirus positive cases and 28 deaths, taking the total case count to 6,625 and the number of fatalities to 396, a state Health department official said.

Ahmedabad reported the highest 291 cases and 25 deaths, said Principal Secretary (Health) Jayanti Ravi.

119 more people were discharged after recovery, taking the overall number in the state to 1,500, she said.

The number of active cases in Gujarat now stands at 4,729 while 26 patients are on ventilator. A total 95,191 samples have been tested so far, the official said.