Indeed, Maharashtra accounts for a major chunk of India’s daily coronavirus infections. On Tuesday, of the 47,262 cases reported by the country, 28,699 were reported in the state. But Punjab has been recording a faster growth in infections.
Analysis of Covid-19 infections since the start of March shows that cases in Punjab have been growing on an average at 0.8% daily, in contrast cases in Maharashtra have been growing at 0.7%. For India, the compounded daily growth rate in cases for March has been 0.2%.
While daily cases in India have doubled since February, the growth rate in Punjab has witnessed a four-times increase.
Moreover, while Punjab accounts for 4.7% of the country’s infections, its share in terms of deaths is much higher. On Tuesday, data from MoHFW indicated that Punjab accounted for a fifth of the country’s total deaths. In terms of deaths, too, Punjab leads the country in terms of the growth rate in daily deaths. In India, deaths have been growing daily by 0.1% in March, but in Punjab, deaths have been rising at the rate of 0.4% daily.
The ratio of new deaths in the states has also been rising. An analysis of death data for the last week shows that Punjab records 34 deaths for every 1,000 cases. India, on the other hand, was reporting 9 death for every 1,000 cases.
On Tuesday, Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh had said that 81% of the 401 samples tested by the government for genomic sequencing have shown the UK variant's presence, which leads to faster transmission.
In the weekly press conference on Wednesday, it was highlighted that Punjab had 336 cases of the UK variant and that there were five mutations (N501Y, E484K, E484Q, E484Q+L452R, L452R) which were a matter of concern available in Punjab.
However, director, NCDC, Sujeet K Singh, emphasised that till now, there was no linkage between these variants and the surge in cases.
“The Union health ministry will hold detailed consultations with officials in districts reporting an increase in cases in Maharashtra and Punjab on Saturday,” said Rajesh Bhushan, health secretary, ministry of health.
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