Punjab continues to fare worst in Covid-19 fatality rate in country

Union health ministry expresses concern, asks the state government to take steps to improve its rate by taking urgent steps

Punjab has consistently fared worst in the country in terms of Covid-19 case fatality rate (CFR) for the last more than two months with the Union government expressing concern over the issue again.

When the other states are showing remarkable improvement on the count, Punjabs CFR has been on the rise, reaching 3.14% on Tuesday, more than double the national average of 1.49%.

On Monday, the Union health ministry in a meeting with officials of 10 worst-hit states again asked Punjab to take steps to improve its CFR by taking urgent steps.

It was on September 9 when Punjab topped the country with the highest CFR (2.95%) by surpassing Gujarat (2.93%) and Maharashtra (2.90%), the two worst-affected states.

As on Tuesday, whereas Maharashtra managed to reduce its CFR to 2.6% and Gujarat to 2.1%, Punjab’s ratio increased to 3.14%, showing a worrying sign as the number of daily addition of cases has also fallen sharply to average 500 a day this week.

Concerned over the high CFR, the Centre in September had rushed a team of experts to the state. The team had made some recommendations to make certain changes in the treatment protocol.

Punjab Covid-19 nodal officer Dr Rajesh Bhaskar said the state’s high CFR is primarily because of a sharp decline in daily addition of positive cases.

“In the other states with high CFR, the daily addition of cases has not decreased in the same proportion as in Punjab. High rate of co-morbidities and lifestyle diseases is also a major reason behind a high CFR. But Punjab has also been appreciated for testing every person even as their death was due to other reasons,” said Dr Bhaskar.

“We are in the process of compiling data but we also tested those who lost their lives in accidents. In at least 25 such cases, the patients were found positive after their death. Similarly, three persons who consumed poison and died were also found positive after death,” he added.

States with highest death rate

State CFR on Sept 9 CFR on Nov 10

Punjab 2.95% 3.14%

Gujarat 2.93% 2.1%

Maharashtra 2.90% 2.6%

Madhya Pradesh 2.08 % 1.7%

West Bengal 1.97% 1.8%

National average 1.71% 1.49%