With the state achieving the highest COVID-19 fatality rate (CFR) in India at 2.96 percent, Punjab Health and Family Minister Balbir Singh Sidhu on Friday maintained that most of the COVID-19 related deaths in Punjab are caused by comorbidities and other lifestyle diseases.
“Without a vaccine, the only prevention is taking precautions. Most COVID-19 related deaths here are caused by comorbidities and other lifestyle diseases,” said Sidhu.
Punjab’s fatality rate — the proportion of those who died among confirmed cases — has gone up to 2.95 percent, surpassing Maharashtra’s mortality rate of 2.90 percent, while India’s COVID-19 fatality rate stands at 1.67 percent.
What is worrisome is the fact that Punjab is the only state where this fatality rate is rising while the national CFR has been witnessing a continuing decline.
The State Government has all along been attributing the current situation primarily to the patient behaviour, besides the misinformation propaganda about public hospitals and testing.
At the same time, the government authorities claimed that it was not right to judge the prevailing situation by taking into account the CFR, but instead it should be calculated in deaths per million.
“If the number of cases goes up, the death rate will come down…so this is not the right metric to compare the fatality rate,” said a senior government official.
As per the data available, out of total deaths, 95 percent have comorbid conditions.
Punjab had reported its first death on March 19 in Nawanshahr district.
With the tally now standing at 2061, the state, on an average, has reported 11 or 12 deaths every day.
The surge in the COVID-19 fatalities was witnessed first in the end of July, followed by maximum 1063 deaths in the month of August alone — on an average, 34 deaths every day.
The State Government is attributing the mounting number of fatalities to delayed testing, informing the health institutions late or when the condition worsens.
The state Health Secretary Hussan Lal stated that as per the latest data on COVID in Punjab, 90 percent of the deaths had been reported among Level III patients, 7.6 percent among Level II, and the remainder of patients in home isolation.
The government authorities have been blaming the patients for delayed testing and approaching the hospitals or other healthcare facilities for treatment when they are extremely sick.
“By that time, one can actually do nothing. No matter how good the health facility is, it could not do anything when the disease reaches that stage,” added the official.