1st Time During Pandemic, More Recoveries Than New Cases On All Days Of Month

Nagpur: May witnessed end of the highly contagious and virulent second wave of Covid-19 pandemic in the district. Among all 14 months of the pandemic, May also turned out to be the only month in which recoveries were more than new cases on all days.
The number of Covid cases declined by almost three times in May compared to April, which saw peak of the second wave. The cases started to decline from the beginning of May and the numbers came down to around 400 per day in the last few days. On Monday, new cases further declined to 319, which were lowest single-day detections after 108 days.
As Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and zilla parishad (ZP) continued to test more people by conducting special camps, weekly TPR dropped to 4.15% in the fourth week of May as against 31.06% in the fourth week of April.
The district had witnessed peak of the first wave in September last year. The cases dropped in October. The number of cases and TPR is more in May compared to October last as the second wave was highly contagious. Also, the number of tests was higher in May compared to October.
May, however, saw more Covid deaths with 1,504 patients succumbing to the disease for a daily average of 50. Though the fatality was less compared to April, it was higher than October. The fatalities started to drop in the last five days of May. There were 10 deaths in the district on Monday, which were lowest in a day after 78 days.
The case fatality rate (CFR) in May increased to 2.26% as against 1.26% in April as Covid cases had declined to a great extent.
The number of recoveries was also higher than new cases in May compared to remaining 13 months. Total 1,34,920 patients recovered in May whereas new cases were at 66,499. Recoveries were double than new cases as April had witnessed more cases. Overall recovery rate of the district also improved in May. The district’s recovery rate was lagging behind the state and national average till April. At present, the district’s recovery rate (97%) is higher than that of state (94%) and the country (91.6%).
The number of patients under treatment also dropped considerably in May. Active cases were 6,261 as on Monday. Due to this, 6,287 beds were vacant in Covid hospitals.
Only major worry for the district in May was increase in mucormycosis cases and post Covid complications.
Covid cases had started rising from the third week of February and the increase was substantial since the beginning of March. Deaths started to increase from the third week of March. April was peak of the second wave as the month recorded highest-ever cases, deaths, tests and recoveries too.
box
Time to resume economic activities: Expert
Infectious diseases specialist Dr Nitin Shinde told TOI, “Second wave has come to an end as the weekly test positivity rate (TPR) has dropped below 5% in the district in the last week of May. The situation is favourable to resume economic activities. Though chances of cases and weekly TPR increasing slightly cannot be ruled out when markets reopen, it will be no major cause for worry. However, all should continue to follow Covid-appropriate behaviour.”