Haryana went from bottom of India’s Covid-19 table to top 10 in 3 months

CHANDIGARH: Once placed at the bottom in the tally of Covid-19 cases in the country, the tiny state of Haryana now figures among 10 states with the highest cases of the virus in the country.
As per latest data, Haryana is ranked 9th in terms of Covid-19 cases, with the state getting up to 10,635 patients and 160 deaths till Sunday.

An analysis of Covid data from March 15 to June 15 revealed that the number of cases rose from just 14 on March 15 to 7,722 cases and 100 deaths on June 15.
From March 15 to April 15, the growth rate of Covid cases in Haryana was around 6 cases a day, with just 204 cases in the 30 days. Next month, from April 16 to May 15, the average growth of Covid-19 cases reached around 21 cases every day with 650 new cases.
However, the state faced the worst phase last month, from May 16 to June 15, when 6,868 new cases were recorded with an average of around 229 cases every day. In this period, lockdown was lifted and the state opened almost every area of business, shops, industries and government offices.
As far as fatalities are concerned, the state witnessed just two deaths from March 15 to April 16, 11 deaths from April 16 to May 15, and 87 from May 16 to June 15.
When it comes to gender, 69% patients are male and 31% are female. Among the deceased, 68% were male and 32% female.
The state has also improved on the testing front. Only 7,098 tests were conducted between March 15 and April 15. This improved to 65,228 tests in the period from April 15 to May 15, and to 1,17,588 between May 16 and June 15.
On an average, around 4,000 tests are conducted every day.
The state has improved infrastructure over the three months as there were only two government laboratories till March 15 with a limited number of Covid-19 testing facilities. This has now reached 18 laboratories having a capacity to test around 11,000 persons every day.
The number of isolation wards/quarantine facilities has increased manifold. More than 500 regular doctors as well as ayurvedic medical officers have been recruited during this period to tackle the deadly virus.
According to Rajeev Arora, additional chief secretary (health and family welfare) of Haryana, the state health authorities had been fighting the virus on two fronts, treating patients and improving infrastructure at the same time. “Initially, we had no infrastructure or facility to deal with it, but we improved facilities. We are prepared to deal with the situation. Our recovery rate is significantly high,” he added.