Punjab sees 500 Covid deaths in 16 days as toll crosses 1,000 mark

Continues to be among four states with highest case fatality rate; 22% of those succumbing to the virus had no co-morbidities

CHANDIGARH : Punjab’s Covid-19 death toll on Saturday crossed the 1,000 mark as it continued to remain among the four Indian states with the highest case fatality rate (CFR).

That the situation is turning grimmer by the day can be gauged from the fact that the state witnessed the last 500 cases in just 16 days. On the other hand, it had taken 139 days to reach the initial 500 deaths after the state’s first Covid-19 death was reported on March 19.

It was on August 6 that Punjab crossed the 500 mark.

In August, the state recorded 631 deaths, forcing the Capt Amarinder Singh-led Congress government to take strict measures like imposing Section 144 (restriction on assembly of more than 5 persons) and announce night curfew from 7pm to 5am in all cities and towns.

Whereas Punjab’s CFR at 3% was equal to the national average till a month ago, its current figure (2.5%) is be one of the highest in the country. The national CFR has fallen to 1.9%. Gujarat, Maharashtra and Delhi are the other three states whose CFR is worse than Punjab.

Though Punjab’s caseload per million of 1,261 is better than the national average of 1,612, the state’s deaths per million population figure of 31.9% is worse than India rate of 30.5%.

Among the districts, Tarn Taran had the highest CFR of 4.4% (as on August 20), followed by Amritsar (3.9%), Kapurthala (3.8%), Sangrur (3.8%) and Ludhiana (3.3%).

19% CFR AMONG THOSE AGED 80 OR ABOVE

Even as the health department has been maintaining that co-morbidity was the main reason behind most of the deaths in Punjab, the figures reveal that 22% of the total victims have had no medical history.

Of the 78% of the victims with co-morbidities, while 28% had one illness, 23% were having two, 18% had three and 8% had more than three ailments when the coronavirus infected them.

The case fatality rate is 19% among those aged 80 or above, followed by the 70-79 group at 13% and 11.5% among those aged between 60 and 69. In the 0-9 age category, the CFR is 0.9%; 0.3% in the 10-19 group; 0.4% in 20-29; 0.9% in 30-39; and 2.5% in the 40-49 bracket.

Punjab Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said increase in testing will help bring down the case fatality rate as early detection is the key to control the deaths.

“We have seen a number of patients with serious combordities getting recovered because

they came forward for early testing. Also, there have been patients who appeared absolutely normal but eventually

died since they reported to hospitals when their condition deteriorated,” Dr Bhaskar claimed.