Fatalities lower than first peak

Naina Mishra
Tribune News Service
Chandigarh, April 5

Against the high number of deaths reported during the last Covid peak, the current wave has triggered fewer fatalities till now.

Even though the number of fatalities in March was 40 per cent more than February, the mortality rate due to Covid now is pretty low than the deaths witnessed in September and October last year.

'Misuse of steroids'

Prof GD Puri, Dean (Academics) and Head, Department of Anesthesia and Intensive Care, PGI, said: "Fatalities are increasing as patients are reporting late to the hospitals. One of the many reasons for Covid fatalities is the misuse of steroids in the early stage by general practitioners just on the basis of CT scan instead of using oxygen saturation levels as an indicator. This is one of the reasons for the deterioration of condition of patients."

The month of March recorded 25 deaths, which is 50 per cent less than the average 50 deaths reported every month during the last surge.

When the first peak struck the city in mid-August, a total of 41 deaths took place in the entire month, followed by 106 deaths in September, 64 in October, 51 in November, and 40 deaths in December.

The first peak began on August 17 when more than 100 cases were being reported every day and an upward trend in the cases continued till September 13. The cases begin to dip thereon; however, fatalities continued the entire month.

Since March 6, when the city started witnessing a steady rise in cases again, Chandigarh has recorded 6,241 cases till date. But the mortality among patients remains low this time.

Chandigarh's overall case fatality ratio stands at 1.4 per cent.

In the terms of active cases, the UT stands at the second spot (after Maharashtra) in the country with an 11.2 per cent active ratio.

from The Tribune https://ift.tt/39NH4PU