India’s death rate is showing a steady rise, going up from .5 per cent to nearly .7 per cent. It means from an earlier count of five deaths per thousand patients, now seven patients out of 1,000 are succumbing to the virus. On Wednesday, the country reported record
2,101 deaths against record 3,15,478 cases reported during 24 hours.
This is the first time India has reported more than 3 lakh Covid positive in 24 hours. The surge was driven by Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi and Karnataka. Several others States, like Madhya Pradesh. Rajasthan, Bihar, West Bengal, and Chhattisgarh, Haryana, Punjab, are also trying to catch up with the worst-affected States.
The health authorities in Maharashtra went into a tizzy, as the daily deaths shot to 568, while the State recorded 67,468 infections — the second-highest since the outbreak of the pandemic in March last year.
Uttar Pradesh reported 187 deaths, Delhi 249, Gujarat 125, Karnataka 116, Chhattisgarh 193, Madhya Pradesh 75, and Rajasthan 62.
In the worst-affected Maharashtra, a day after the pandemic claimed a record 519 and left as many as 62,097 people infected, the Covid-19 wreaked havoc again. The infections recorded on Wednesday are the second-highest record number of cases. Earlier, the State had recorded an all-time high of 68,631 infections on Sunday, while there were 67,123 infections on Saturday.
With 568 deaths, the total number of deaths in the state climbed from 61,343 to 61,911. Similarly, with 67,468 infections, the total caseload crossed the 40 lakh mark, as the number of cases in the State increased from 39,60,359 to 40,27,827.
In Uttar Pradesh, amid the cry of the paucity of medicine and oxygen the second wave of the corona saw 33,214 fresh cases and the highest ever 187 deaths in the past 24 hours.
Lucknow continued to be the hotspot with 5,902 fresh cases and 21 deaths. At least 2,269 people were discharged while in Varanasi reported 2,564 fresh cases and 12 deaths. Praygraj recorded 1,828 cases and 6 deaths and 1,811 fresh cases were reported in Kanpur.
The whole of Uttar Pradesh was gripped with panic as almost all “mohallas” across the State are reporting fresh cases and deaths due to Covid. The scarcity of oxygen cylinders and life-saving drugs has further complicated the scenario.
Many private nursing homes have put up notices asking people to take away their relatives as there is a scarcity of oxygen. In many hospitals relatives have been asked to bring oxygen cylinders. Nitin Sharma bought an oxygen cylinder at Rs 16,000. “I cannot see my father dying in front of my eyes,” he said as he wheeled in the oxygen cylinder inside a private hospital.
In Kerala, with the number of new Covid-19 patients reaching 22,414 on Wednesday, Kerala emerged as the epicenter of the dreaded pandemic in South India. The State also saw 22 deaths during the last 24 hours. This was disclosed by Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan in his media briefing late Wednesday evening. The Chief Minister said the situation was grave in the State and asked the people to avoid crowding, closed space, and close contact.
As the number of new cases shot up in the State, a new battle has emerged between Kerala and the Centre with the Opposition Congress declaring its support to the CPI(M)-led Government. Vijayan said though the State had informed the Centre about the vaccine shortage in Kerala, the Centre is yet to respond to its plea.
Tamil Nadu diagnosed 11,681 new Covid-19 cases on Wednesday while the death toll increased to 53, according to a release by the Directorate of Public Health and Preventive Medicine. Chennai alone accounted for 3,750 patients on Wednesday while Chengalpattu registered 947 cases.
But Dr Jayanti, head, multi-specialty Covid hospitals told the media on Wednesday that there was no need for the people to get upset with the increasing number of Covid patients.
“We are fully prepared to meet any kind of emergencies. The State has enough stock of vaccines as well as oxygen cylinders,” said Dr Jayanti.
