Assam’s Covid toll in last 2 months almost double than 1 year's count

GUWAHATI: Assam’s Covid-19 fatalities in April and May is almost double the figure of deaths which the state recorded in one year (March 31, 2020-March 31-2021).
At 2,063, the cumulative deaths since April 1 this year have already surpassed the state’s last one year’s death tally of 1,105 by a big margin. The daily death count is not coming below 70 despite all efforts from the health department.
On Saturday, the state reported 77 more deaths.
Data revealed by the state health department on Saturday stated that while the Covid death rate in the entire one year (between March 31, 2020-March 31, 2021) was 0.51%, from April 1 to May 28 (Friday), it went up to 1.15%. However, the rise in the number of deaths has to be counted in light of the fact that people with comorbidities account for 60-70% of fatalities in Assam in the second wave. Though most patients are dying due to co-morbid conditions, they were Covid positive and are being counted in the Covid death toll as per government directives.
“This time, the nature of the virus has been more lethal and that is the primary cause of such a high number of deaths in a shorter span of only two months. Moreover, many people took home isolation casually and came late to the hospital at an oxygen saturation level where doctors could not save many of them,” chairman of the state Covid death audit board, Dr Anup Kumar Barman, told TOI on Saturday.
Now, the state government has totally stopped home isolation of patients above 50 years, except for some exceptional cases. “Even for those below 50 years, who are in home isolation, a strict monitoring mechanism has been put in place by the respective district authorities. Within one week, the death numbers should stabilize as per our assessment,” said Barman.
Even as the daily number of Covid cases marginally went up to 5,613 after conducting 1.16 lakh tests on Saturday, the positivity rate remained at a “satisfactory level” of 4.82%, health officials said. Kamrup (Metropolitan) district and Guwahati city areas recorded the highest (580 cases) in the last 24 hours. The state’s latest recovery rate stood at 85.25%.
With most of the Covid deaths occurring in the city, the district authorities are also concerned at the pollution caused by burning of woods to cremate the bodies of Covid patients. A technical snag at the only functional electric crematorium in Ulubari has brought cremation to a halt. “The need for wood is huge but luckily we are managing at reasonable rates from some suppliers engaged by Nabagraha and Bhutnath crematoriums,” said additional DC Chinmoy Nath.