JAIPUR: Rajasthan recorded 12 more fatalities due to the novel coronavirus on Monday, taking the COVID-19 death toll in the state to 1,760, according to a health department bulletin. The state also reported 1,960 new cases which has pushed the total infection count to 1,75,266. According to the same health bulletin, 1,52,573 people have now been discharged after treatment, while the number of active cases stands at 20,893.
COVID-19 figures in Rajasthan continue to stay rather grim and the number of cases have not shown any significant dip although nationally Covid statistics suggest a considerable decline in recent weeks. Worryingly, Rajasthan which once had the highest recovery rate in the country now lags behind 20 states in recovery of Corona patients.
In fact, for the first time ever, the recovery rate in Rajasthan is lower than the national recovery rate. While the national recovery rate on Monday was 88.2%. in Rajasthan it was 87.07% though in the first five months of the Corona era, the state always ranked among the Top-5 states in the country in terms of recovery rate.
In addition, the number of new cases in the state do not show any substantial decline. While some states like Maharashtra have registered a 64% decline in new cases as compared to its peak, in Rajasthan the number of fresh cases compared to its peak has declined by barely about 11%. As a matter of fact, the number of new cases registered on September 20 were 1865 and a month later on October 19 they have gone up to 1,960. Although the number of new cases have shown a dip since October 15, the rate of decline as compared to many other states is much slower in Rajasthan.
In the initial months of fighting the Corona pandemic, Rajasthan had notched up a range of major successes. From the famous Bhilwara Model that was universally praised including by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, to a range of innovations to combat the corona crisis, Rajasthan was seen as a huge success among all Indian states. As a result, the slow rate of decline in new cases is seen as a disappointment by many experts.
Keen to prevent the situation from going out of hand, the Gehlot government has launched a mass awareness movement in Rajasthan from October 2 to encourage people to adopt practices like wearing masks and maintaining social distance to combat COVID-19.
However, at a recent review meeting chaired by the CM, it was noted that the number of Covid-19 patients in the state requiring Intensive Care Unit (ICU) for treatment or those needing oxygen support and/or ventilators has shown a decline of over 30%. While on September 24, a total of 2902 patients needed critical care, on October 19, the number has declined to 1884 patients.
While welcoming this trend of slowing down, CM Gehlot cautioned that there is no scope for ‘‘the general public to become negligent towards the deadly virus.’’ He asserted that if people show the same kind of cooperation, discipline and wisdom in the coming days as in the past, then only the chain of infection can be broken. The Rajasthan government has also made ‘No Mask, No Entry’ as mandatory for all public places and the government plans to distribute one crore masks throughout the state.