Chandigarh saw 175% increase in Covid deaths in May

City also witnessed overwhelming of the health-care infrastructure as ICU beds with ventilators remained occupied

Seeing a record number of infections and deaths, May turned out to be the worst month ever since the pandemic broke out in the city last year.

Dr Amandeep Kang, the director of health services, Chandigarh, stated that the recovery rate was now 95.2% and 3,43,300 Covishield vaccine doses had been administered to the residents. (HT FILE PHOTO)

Though the cases have started to come down now, the number gradually increased to 895 single-day cases recorded on May 9. During this month, the city also witnessed overwhelming of the health-care infrastructure as the ICU beds with ventilators remained occupied, leaving the patients scrambling for critical care beds. For seven days in a row, there was scarcity of critical beds in the city.

In absolute numbers, the deaths went up from 99 in April to 275 in May, an increase of around 175%. “The surge that was witnessed in the month of April resulted in high number of fatalities in May. The situation is expected to come down in the next three weeks,” said Dr Jagat Ram, the director of PGIMER.

In the last one week, the number of new infections grew by an average of 0.3% every day. The positivity rate also reached 3.6%, with a constant decline in the cases from 11%.

Dr Amandeep Kang, the director of health services, stated that the doubling rate in the city is now 242 days. She also mentioned that the recovery rate was 95.2% and 3,43,300 Covishield vaccine doses had been administered to the residents.