Slight increase in CFR even as Covid cases fall

Ludhiana: Even as the Covid-19 cases are on a decline in Ludhiana, the district has witnessed a slight increase in the case fatality rate (CFR) after registering a dip in the last week of September. CFR is the proportion of deaths from a disease compared with the total number of people diagnosed with it during a specific period.
As per the recent state media bulletins, the CFR for Ludhiana has been 4.2% for the past five days, which is 0.1% higher as compared with the rate for 16 days before that. The CFR had reached the hitherto highest value of 4.3% on September 10 and had remained the same till September 15 before taking a plunge.
An analysis of the CFR data since August 1 shows that on the first day of the month, the rate in Ludhiana was 3% and it increased to 3.5% till August 16 before rising further to 3.8% till August 31. While the CFR on September 1 was 3.9%, it reached 4% the next day before rising to 4.3% on September 10. It then dropped to 4.1% by September 18 and then rose to 4.2% recently.
The latest media bulletin of the state government till Thursday evening shows that at 4.2% CFR, Ludhiana shared the second spot with Tarn Taran and Sangrur. Fatehgarh Sahib had the highest CFR percentage in the state at 4.7%, whereas Kapurthala was at third spot (4.1%). Fazilka had the lowest CFR among the districts of the state at 1.6%.
Ludhiana’s CFR (4.2%) is higher than that of the state (3.1%).
“As the positive cases will decrease, so will the deaths and the CFR. The main reason for high CFR was that the patients were reporting the disease late. But now with increased awareness, they are reporting in time. Also those with comorbidities are higher in the district. We are creating awareness among people to follow the necessary norms to check the virus spread,” said civil surgeon Dr Rajesh Bagga.