NAGPUR: Covid-19 deaths in a day surged to 40 in the district on Monday, which was probably highest among all districts in the country. It was after 176 days there were 40 fatalities in a day in the district.
The toll is also highest in a day in the second wave. As per data of district civil surgeon, 21 deceased were residents of the city while 15 from rural parts of the district. Four deceased were residents of other districts who tested positive here and died in hospitals in the city.
Number of deaths in the city on Monday was also probably highest among all municipal corporation areas in the country.
As per data of state’s public health department, Pune district on Monday recorded 33 fatalities, out of which 11 were from city and remaining from other parts of the district. There were 11 deaths in Mumbai district, out of which 10 in
Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation area and one in Navi Mumbai.
The district started witnessing second wave from third week of February. Positive cases have been increasing since first day of March. Fatalities did not increase immediately but shot up as
active cases started going up. The district had reported six deaths on March 1. Now, fatalities have increased almost seven times in 22 days.
The district had reported 43 fatalities on September 27 during the first peak last year. The highest single-day toll for the district is 64 (city 51, rural 9 and other districts 4) registered on September 17 last year. There were more than 50 deaths on 15 days in September. In comparison, fatalities in March are less till now.
The district has recorded 329 deaths in 22 days of March which is more than that registered in November (269), December (258), January (228) and February (177).
The consistent increase in deaths despite high number of tests is a major worry. The third week of March saw 1,02,804 tests which is highest for weeks in the year-long pandemic.
Infectious diseases specialist Dr
Nitin Shinde told TOI, “Deaths are increasing but case fatality rate (CFR) might be less. Late testing or delayed hospitalization, especially in case of senior citizens and those with comorbidities, are causing deaths. Many of the senior citizens and comorbid patients are in home isolation. Complications start on 6-12 days from the onset of symptoms. Condition deteriorates in home isolation and then patient is hospitalized in serious condition. HR-CT of chest should be done on seventh day to know the severity of infection.”
Cumulative deaths have increased to 4,664. Average CFR of district from March 11 last year to March 22 this year is 2.4%. CFR for March this year is 0.7% (329 deaths against 46,888 cases).
The district had last week recorded probably the highest cases in the country for two consecutive days. Monday saw 3,596 new cases. It was the sixth consecutive day when more than 3,000 cases and tenth consecutive day when more than 2,000 cases have been registered. The district’s caseload is 1,96,676, out of which 46,888 have been detected in 22 days of March.
Active cases in the district swelled to 31,429 and probably second highest in the country after Pune (39,492).
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District deaths in last 10 days
Date--——-City—Rural------Other Districts———Total--Progressive
Mar 13--——2------3----------------2---------------------7---------4,447
Mar 14--——7------3----------------2---------------------12--------4,459
Mar 15--——7------3----------------2----------------------12-------4,471
Mar 16--——12----4-----------------2----------------------18-------4,489
Mar 17--——8------5----------------3----------------------16-------4,505
Mar 18--——14----6-----------------3-----------------------23------4,528
Mar 19--——23----9-----------------3-----------------------35------4,563
Mar 20--——17----9-----------------3-----------------------29------4,592
Mar 21--——18----10---------------4-----------------------32------4,624
Mar 22--——21----15---------------4-----------------------40------4,664