Coronavirus: Punjab, Haryana, HP better than national average in recovery rate

Vinod Kumar | TNN | Apr 16, 2020, 06:51 IST

Ambala’s first coronavirus patient being discharged from hospital

CHANDIGARH: The region of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh and Chandigarh has a reason to cheer and worry. The recovery rate of coronavirus (Covid-19) positive patients here is higher than national average, and so is the death rate. A total of 21.14% patients have recovered as on April 14, while the national average stands at 11.78%.
With 10 out of 11 people who got infected from the virus recovered, Andaman and Nicobar has the highest recovery rate (90.91%) in the country, followed by Kerala where 52% of the positive patients have been cured and discharged.

According to the standard operating procedures, after testing positive, a person is kept in isolation for a fixed period of time. After lapse of isolation period, the patient is tested twice in a gap of 24 hours. If the patient tests positive again, the isolation period is further extended. The process is followed till the patient is tested negative.
Of the 421 positive cases, 89 have been discharged from hospitals. Good sign is that recovered also include elderly people in their seventies and eighties. Chandigarh has the highest recovery rate of 42.85% in the region with 9 people out of 21 recovering. In the hill state of Himachal Pradesh, 37.5% infected people have been cured — with three patients each in Chamba, Kangra, Solan and Una.
In Haryana, the recovery rate is at 22.28%, with 41 people out of 184 infected having recovered. Gurugram has the highest recovery rate in Haryana, with 16 positive cases discharged from hospital, followed by Faridabad, where 8 have recovered, and Panipat, at four.
In Punjab, the worst hit state by the coronavirus outbreak, 27 people have been sent home out of 184 positive cases, taking the tally to 14.67%. In Nawanshahr, which was among the first few districts to be hit by the outbreak, 15 out of 19 positive cases have recovered while five have recovered in Mohali and four in Jalandhar.
Terming the recovery rate as a good sign, Dr D Behera, department of pulmonary medicine, PGIMER, Chandigarh, said that going by the trend, the number of positive cases are expected to come down in the coming weeks while the recovery rate will go up. “Sufficient testing and contact tracing is being done. The stringent steps taken by the respective governments in the region seem to be working,” he said. He also advised the health authorities to keep a close watch on those considered as cured since there have been reports of people who recovered again testing positive in countries like South Korea.