Deaths more than cities in rural Patiala

PATIALA: Not only Covid deaths have surged in the rural parts of this district for the last few months, but also the case fatality fate (CFR) is higher than the cities.
Of the 1,188 deaths that the health department recorded in the district for March, 704 were in the urban areas and 484 in the rural zone. Of the victims, 687 were men and 501 women. In April, there were 1,691 deaths, with a divide of 979:712 for urban-rural and 984:707 for male-female. The patients from nearby districts who died at Rajindra hospital were counted in Patiala’s ‘urban’ category. In the last 24 hours, their number was 22 of 35.
Assistant civil surgeon Dr Parveen Puri said: "The rural area deaths spiked in April and included the outside patients who came in and died at the Rajindra hospital. We did not split the data." Hospital’s medical superintendent Dr H S Rekhi said: "From 114 Covid deaths in March, the figure jumped to 391 in April, and since the outbreak, we have lost 1,781 patients." The Patiala health department said from April 1 to May 11, the district had recorded 17,412 positive cases and 344 Covid deaths.