NEW DELHI: Five southern states — Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Kerala — have only 7.71 per cent share in the COVID-19 death count so far.
On the other hand, six states — Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh — account for about 85.7 per cent of the total deaths.
Total number of deaths till Wednesday afternoon was 1,698 of which only 131 have been reported from the southern states. Among these five states, Karnataka is at the top 4.11 per cent death rate. Though the state has reported only 692 confirmed cases, it has seen 29 people succumbing to the infection.
On the contrary, despite a large number of positive cases, Tamil Nadu has registered a lower death rate of 0.81 per cent, with Kerala seeing the lowest death rate of 0.79 per cent.
The state has total of 33 deaths so far against 4,058 confirmed cases till Wednesday afternoon. Telangana and Andhra Pradesh have recorded 2.64 per cent and 2 per cent deaths, respectively.
The national average of COVID-19 death rate is 3.42 per cent. Maharashtra leads the state in death counts with 617 persons losing their life so far.
At 3.97 per cent, its death rate is also slightly higher than the national average. Gujarat has seen 368 deaths till Wednesday afternoon, but the death rate is considerably higher at 5.89 per cent.
The state that has recorded the highest fatality rate of 10.41 per cent is West Bengal. From zero death count April 29, it went up to 74 fatalities on May 3.
Madhya Pradesh, too, has a high death rate of 5.78 per cent. In contrast, Delhi has done remarkably well with fewer fatalities despite a large number of confirmed cases.