Haryana has already crossed Punjab that has got 2,663 positive cases till date. (Representational)

After recording a case-doubling rate of 21 days last month, Covid-19 cases in Haryana are now doubling in six days. With cases rising fast, the state is now on the verge of figuring among India’s worst coronavirus affected states.

Considering the pace at which the coronavirus cases have begun to rise in Haryana, especially in border districts of National Capital Territory of Delhi, Haryana will soon be overtaking Bihar among the worst hit states of the country.

With 11 people losing their lives in last 24 hours, a total of 39 people have lost their lives due to Covid-19 in Haryana till date. A total of 34 patients are in a critical condition including 14 on ventilator, and 20 on oxygen support. While 13 people have died in Faridabad, nine in Gurgaon, four in Panipat, three each in Sonipat and Jind, two each have lost their lives in Ambala, Karnal and Rohtak and one person has died in Rewari district, till date.

Till Monday evening, while Bihar had 4,915 Covid cases, Haryana had reached 4,854. However, over the last one week, the rate of daily increase in coronavirus cases in Haryana is almost 1.5 times more than in Bihar. Led by Maharashtra, the other worst affected states of the country include Gujarat, Delhi, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal.

Haryana has already crossed Punjab that has got 2,663 positive cases till date.

For the second consecutive day, Haryana got over 400 fresh Covid cases in 24 hours taking the state’s total Covid cases till date to 4,854 by Monday evening. Gurgaon continued to be the worst affected with 2,165 cases (1,577 active patients), followed by 773 in Faridabad (577 active cases) and 436 cases in Sonipat (269 active cases).

Haryana’s Health as well as Home Minister, Anil Vij, said that the state’s entire focus is now on “preparedness” and “ensuring that anybody infected gets adequate treatment”.

“Right from Day 1, I was against opening of interstate borders with Delhi. I always thought that if we open borders with Delhi, then corona cases will increase in Haryana. But, on public’s demand, Union government decided to open all interstate borders. Now the cases are increasing and shall continue to increase. Our focus now is to ensure that everybody gets proper treatment. We have started making arrangements for that. And, we are fully prepared. We are also working on increasing our bed capacity”, Vij said, Monday.

However, Vij added that “if need be, the interstate borders may have to be shut again. We are monitoring the situation closely”.

Although 1700 patients have so far recovered in Haryana including 226 recovered and discharged in last 24 hours, there were still 3,115 active Covid patients.

Fresh cases in 17 out of 22 districts

Fresh cases have started coming in from almost all the districts on a daily basis for the last two days. In the last 24 hours, fresh cases were reported in 17 out of 22 districts of the state while all 22 districts reported fresh cases, Sunday.

The districts including Yamunanagar and Nuh that had reported zero active cases for days have again started getting fresh cases. On Monday evening, there were 29 active cases in Yamunangar and 11 in Yamunanagar.

Cases in Gurgaon cross 2,000 mark

With 243 more people testing positive for coronavirus in Gurgaon on Monday, the total number of cases in the district crossed the 2,000 mark. The district has seen a massive spike in coronavirus cases, as just over a month ago, on April 30, the total number of cases were only 57.

Officials, however, insist there is little cause for worry, with Deputy Commissioner Amit Khatri stating that the district has “adequate facilities” to deal with the outbreak, in terms of both isolation facilities and sampling. “We have around 4,000 beds and 350 ventilators in both private and government hospitals. Apart from this, around 1,000 more beds are being arranged to ensure treatment can be given to patients,” said the Deputy Commissioner.

The fact that “more than 80 per cent” of those who have tested positive are being treated at home, officials said, is another reason why there is little chance of medical facilities falling short as of now.

Of the 2,165 cases that have been recorded in Gurgaon so far, more than half have emerged over eight days of this month.

With two more people succumbing to the infection on Monday, the total death toll due to coronavirus in the district has risen to six.

‘No community transmission’

Vij, however, vehemently denied presence of community transmission in any part of Haryana so far.

“There is no community transmission, yet. Cases are increasing due to increase in frequency of travelling to and from Delhi. At least 47 per cent of total cases in Haryana are only in Gurgaon. Although the cases are increasing in other parts of Haryana too, but there are other factors involved. People have started moving out. They are moving around in their vehicles and visiting places, meeting each other. Since, even religious places, restaurants and shopping malls have opened from Monday, the only solution is to maintain social distancing,” Vij said.

He added, “It is not possible for the government to deploy police in front of each religious place, restaurant or shopping mall. People will have to maintain social distancing on their own and wear face masks. We will also be imposing fine on violators, but it is our compulsion to ensure safety of people. We are not seeing end of this coronavirus anytime soon. People will have to learn to live with it”.

Reacting to Arvind Kejriwal’s illness, Vij said that like for everything else “there should also be SOPs for politicians. A politician is among the most prone of getting infected since a large number of people meet them daily with their grievances. Many times, it is not possible to say no to the visitors because it is our duty to serve them. There should be some SOPs for politicians too so that they can know how to save themselves while keep on discharging their duties”.

Attempting to curb further spread of coronavirus, the District Magistrates have so far issued containment orders in almost all districts of the state.

Covid Status Check

Total positive cases Monday – 406

Total tests till today – 1,50,220

Total test reports received in last 24 hours – 4,498

(With Inputs from Sakshi Dayal in Gurgaon)