Eight months after it began, the Covid-19 pandemic now gallops across the country with 20 states reporting more than 10,000 active cases and a resurgence being seen in Delhi and Mumbai that had witnessed a fall not so long ago.
This happens at a time when India stares at one million active and 100,000 daily Covid-19 cases and is on its way to be the world’s number one novel coronavirus affected nation.
Out of 9.7 lakh active cases, four big states – Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh account for more than 50% of such cases. The active caseload in another 16 states ranges from 47,000 plus in Tamil Nadu to around 14,500 in Bihar. Even smaller states like Uttarakhand and Tripura are approaching the 10,000 active case mark.
Delhi witnessed a resurgence in number within a span of six weeks as the national capital now reports in excess of 4,000 cases on a daily basis after the count dipped to just about 600 in the third week of July.
“It’s not a second wave, but a resurgence of cases in the first wave. In the unlock phase, more and more people have come out without the mask and disobeying social distancing rules. This has led to a rise in Delhi,” Giridhar Babu, an epidemiologist at the Public Health Foundation of India told DH.
While government hospitals in Delhi have begun to augment their ICU bed capacity, the Arvind Kejriwal government ordered the private hospitals to reserve 80% of their ICU capacity for Covid-19 patients once the occupants are released.
“While the good news is that our death rates haven’t been as bad as some of the other countries, but with a population of 1.35 billion people, the absolute numbers are still sobering. And rural India is just beginning to get hit”, tweeted CS Pramesh, director, Tata Memorial Centre, Mumbai.
Down south in Karnataka, we saw an increase in the mortality rate in the rural districts, C N Manjunath, the state nodal officer for testing, said, describing the situation “worrying.”
“The crisis has been heightened by the fact that many rural districts have underdeveloped medical infrastructure incapable of handling a large rise in the number of cases. This is why the fatalities are going up in other districts,” he added. While the Case Fatality Rate is 1.3% in Bengaluru Urban, it is 1.8% in the rest of Karnataka.
On Sunday, Bengaluru Urban raced past Mumbai to become the second large metropolis for Covid-19 cases after Delhi. Bangalore Urban now has more than 41,000 active cases as against 30,000 plus in Mumbai.
A rise in the Covid-19 number had led to a short supply of oxygen, needed by upwards of 35,000 patients. The Union Health Ministry on Sunday reached out to seven states including Karnataka to ensure adequate availability of the life-saving gas.
The states have been asked not to stop the inter-state movement of medical oxygen. Also, green corridors are to be created for quick transport of oxygen.
“The celebration in Delhi was early. The real challenge is to protect the rural population while opening up the economy,” said K Srinath Reddy, president, PFHI and a former professor at the All India Institute of Medical Sciences, here.