By Dr Nitin Pandey
DEHRADUN, 30 Jul: After hovering a little short of 50,000, the number of new cases edged slightly past that to touch 52,133 on Thursday, though with 32,553 recoveries, the actual increase in the total number of active cases was 18,795. The main cause of this increase was a surge in Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, UP and WB. Delhi again recorded a decline in cases.
Deaths due to COVID also had a sharp increase, reaching 775 deaths on Thursday. An interesting development was the realisation by the West Bengal Government that 60% of all deaths in the State occurred in the wee hours of the morning, at a time when usually inpatient care in most hospitals is comparatively lax. To counter, this the WB Government has set up a central monitoring station in Kolkata, which is hooked up with all Covid-19 treating hospitals in the State and the staff needs to key in vital parameters of seriously ill patients in an especially developed software, usually 3-4 hourly, but hourly for seriously ill patients.
Uttarakhand also had a good day on Thursday with just 199 new cases and 175 recoveries, pushing up the total number of cases by just 24, which is negligible. Of the 199 cases, just 93 were those with no positive history, indicating they were local spread. So, almost 60% of cases in Uttarakhand continue to be those coming in from outside. Uttarakhand’s recovery rate continues to hover around 66%, slightly above the National average of 64%. Four people died on Thursday from Coronavirus, one each in Dehradun and Rishikesh, and two in Haldwani.
(Dr Nitin Pandey is a Dehradun based ex Indian Air Force doctor, a Pediatrician and an active Social worker.)
