Eight states account for 87% of Covid deaths, 85% active cases

High disease burden states are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal; Centre asks all states to focus on containment measures and utilise full testing capacity

NEW DELHI : Eight states in India account for 85.5% of the active coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases, and also 87% of total deaths caused by the pandemic in the country, the group of ministers (GoM) overseeing the fight against the public health crisis was informed on Saturday.

The group, headed by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan, held its 17th meeting since February, when it was constituted by the Prime minister Narendra Modi to manage and review the evolving outbreak.

The high disease burden states in terms of Covid-19 cases and deaths are Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Telangana, Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.

As of Saturday, the total number of cases in Maharashtra was 1,59,133 and the total number of deaths was 7,273; the total number of cases in Tamil Nadu was 78,335 and the total number of deaths was 1,025; the total number of cases in Delhi was 80,188 and the total number of deaths was 2,558; the total number of cases in Telangana was 13,436 and the total number of deaths was 243; the total number of cases in Gujarat was 30,773 and the total number of deaths was 1,790; the total number of cases in Uttar Pradesh was 21, 737 and the total number of deaths was 649; the total number of cases in Andhra Pradesh was 12,285 and the total number of deaths was 157; the total number of cases in West Bengal was 16,711 and the total number of deaths was 629.

The Centre has rushed 15 teams consisting of public health experts, epidemiologists, clinicians and a senior joint secretary level official to provide technical support to the states.

Another team of experts from the Centre, led by joint secretary Lav Agarwal, is currently visiting Gujarat, Maharashtra and Telangana to review the Covid-19 situation and assist the states to plug the gaps in disease containment and treatment.

“The main focus of the government is to reduce the number of deaths due to Covid-19. India’s death rate is the lowest globally, but each life counts. Even a single death is too much so efforts are being made to devise measures that will help us save lives,” said a government official, requesting anonymity.

The key focus areas that are being communicated to all states are strict containment measures and surveillance; utilising full testing capacity; focus on monitoring of comorbid and elderly population; predicting emerging hot spots leveraging digital tools such as Aarogya Setu; ensuring seamless patient admission processes; fatality mitigation through effective clinical management; focus on infrastructure preparedness (critical care beds, oxygen, ventilators and logistics); and ensuring that nonCovid health care services are not impacted.

The director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr Balram Bhargava, gave a detailed presentation to the GoM on the testing strategy of ICMR. There are 1,026 laboratories conducting

Covid-19 testing, including 741 in the government sector and 285 private labs.

The samples tested in the past 24 hours increased to 220,479, from about 200,000 samples a couple of days earlier, taking the total cumulative number of samples tested to 79,96,707 since January 22, when first sample was tested for Covid-19 in India.

India has 1,039 dedicated Covid-19

hospitals, with 1,76,275 isolation beds, 22,940 intensive care unit (ICU) beds and 77,268 oxygen supported beds. There are 2,398 dedicated Covid health centres, with 1,39,483 Isolation beds, 11,539 ICU beds and 51,321 oxygen supported beds.

The number of Covid care centres is also growing, with 8,958 centres and 8,10,621 beds currently available in the country.