NEW DELHI: As the rapid rise in COVID-19 deaths continues unabated, the Centre has again urged states to ensure “early recognition and triaging” of infected patients who are at high risk and need close monitoring for any worsening of their condition.
In the last 24 hours, 126 patients have died in India due to the infection and the highest fatalities were reported from Gujarat and Maharashtra.
Following a meeting with the health ministers of these two states, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said that the rising number of COVID-19 deaths was “worrisome” and asked states to focus on more effective surveillance, contact tracing and early diagnosis to reduce the high fatality rate.
“Proper interventions, screening and testing of Severe Acute Respiratory Infections and Influenza Like Illness cases need adequate attention as this may prevent spread of infection in other areas,” said Vardhan.
“Implementation of an effective containment strategy needs to be the top priority of the states to reduce the mortality rate,” he added.
As per the government statistics, of the new deaths, 49 fatalities were reported from Gujarat, 34 from Maharashtra, 12 from Rajasthan, seven from West Bengal, three from Uttar Pradesh, two each from Punjab and Tamil Nadu and one each from Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.
Overall Maharashtra tops the tally with 617 fatalities while Gujarat comes second with 368 deaths, followed by Madhya Pradesh at 176, West Bengal at 140, Rajasthan at 89, Delhi at 64, Uttar Pradesh at 56 and Andhra Pradesh at 36.
The death toll reached 33 in Tamil Nadu and 29 in Telangana, while Karnataka also has reported 29 fatalities.
Overall number of confirmed cases in the country has now reached 49,391--with 2,958 new cases detected in a day. The death toll due to the disease now stands at 1,694.
Government officials conceded that many fatalities are a result of people reporting to hospitals only after developing serious complications.
“That’s why we are emphasizing on granular level epidemiological surveillance and better management of the cases in districts,” another official said.
Infectious disease experts meanwhile expressed worry that the Centre’s strategy for the outbreak may have been problematic from the beginning -- leading to a high case load and fatalities now.
“I had feared that the number of daily deaths could a massive spike at some point and that’s coming true now,” said Dr T Jacob John, senior virologist and professor emeritus with Christian Medical College, Vellore.
“Things like not ramping up testing early enough, not making it mandatory for everyone to wear masks in public and officially not accepting that there is community transmission of the disease -- despite its evidence since mid March, which meant individuals did not have proper awareness -- were not right," said Dr John. "That could be the reason we are seeing the avalanche of new infections and deaths now,” he said.