Nagpur district’s Covid tally past 50k; 1st 10k in 153 days, 40k in 32 days

Nagpur: The district crossed 50,000 Covid-19 positive cases on Friday, becoming the fifth in the state to register such high number of cases. The district took 153 days to register 10,681 cases while 40,655 cases came in the last 32 days, for an average of 1,270 per day.
The total Covid count surged to 51,336 after 1,484 new cases were detected on Friday. Except two days, the district has registered over 1,000 cases every day from August 18 to September 11. In the last 11 days, over 1,400 cases were reported on nine days. Highest single-day count is 2,065 registered on September 10.
It took the district 96 days to cross first 1,000 cases. Till end of July, total 5,392 cases registered and the district was at 10th position among 35 districts in the state. Population-wise the district is on 5th position in the state.
August witnessed a massive spike of 27,973 cases, taking the tally to 33,365 and prompting guardian minister Nitin Raut to declare community spread in the district. The situation has worsened in September. The district has registered 17,971 cases in the first 11 days of September, for a cumulative of 51,336.
The district is now on at 5th position after Pune (2,23,710), Mumbai (1,52,934), Thane (1,52,934) and Nashik (52,049) in Covid count. The district is the first among 11 in Vidarbha to cross 50,000 cases. In fact, the district’s tally is much higher than total of remaining 10 districts.
The number of daily tests is still less than what the public representatives had suggested. They had suggested over 10,000 tests per day. Around 8,000 tests are being done every day — 5,000 in city, 3,000 in rural while patients are also coming from other districts and states.
Consultant physician and intensivist Dr Nikhil Balankhe said it is a sign of Covid-19 peak in the district if over 40,655 cases came in last 32 days while there were 10,681 in first 153 days. “Nobody can tell whether cases will keep on increasing or come down. Peak can be confirmed when curve begins to flatten,” he said.
Dr Balankhe said large number of active cases means huge burden on health infrastructure. “Symptomatic positive patients are finding difficult to get beds in government as well as private hospitals. Reports of tests are coming after two days. There is urgent need for slowing down the growth rate for which full lockdown with curfew seems to be only solution,” he said.
Another major worry for the district is high growth in deaths due to Covid-19. Cumulative deaths till end of July were 126. August had seen 919 deaths for a total of 1,045. In first 11 days of September, the district has registered 524 deaths for a total of 1,569.
NMC additional municipal commissioner Jalaj Sharma in a press release said the civic body was taking various types of measures to control the deaths. “Testing has been increased to 6,000 per day from earlier 2,500 per day while 50 testing centres are in operation. Covid treatment is available at 38 hospitals, of which 33 are private, two are trust-run hospitals and three are government-run hospitals.
“Total 2,827 beds are available in private (1,377) and government (1,450) hospitals. Daily monitoring is being done to ensure sufficient supply of oxygen. Also, municipal commissioner Radhakrishnan B and all at the NMC are doing daily analysis of deaths to know the cause and initiate measures,” he said.