May added half of total Covid deaths in Haryana

A month back when the skyrocketing medical oxygen demand had set the alarm bells ringing, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had described as “tsunami” the second Covid-19 wave which in May has left behind a trail of death and devastation

A month back when the skyrocketing medical oxygen demand had set the alarm bells ringing, Haryana chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar had described as “tsunami” the second Covid-19 wave which in May has left behind a trail of death and devastation.

(REUTERS/representational image)

“One can expect a deluge in the rainy season and prepare accordingly, but what has hit us is nothing short of a tsunami,” Khattar had said in a news conference as the public in the streets panicked and even high-heeled people struggled to get a bed in the hospitals.

And what followed was the scarcity of medical oxygen and the unnerving scale of the body bags that poured out of the homes and hospitals in May when almost 50% (4,005) of the total (8,221) deaths due to coronavirus took place in a month in Haryana.

According to the analysis of the daily health bulletin data up to May 30, 2021, May has been the deadliest ever since the Wuhan virus was detected in Haryana in February 2020.

In April this year, Haryana recorded the second highest 1,061 fatalities, 107 in March, 30 in February and 113 in January.

On the other hand, till May 31, 2020, the death toll in Haryana due to Covid-19 was 20 and it began mounting after that. For example, the virus claimed 216 lives in June, 185 in July, 268 in August, 693 in September, 407 in October, 639 in November and 477 in December.

Hisar has been the worst affected district where 860 people (420 in May alone) have died. The infection has claimed 328 lives in May in Gurugram out of total 804 fatalities. Faridabad is another district with high fatalities where 707 people (195 in May) have died. In May, Rohtak recorded 277 deaths followed by Bhiwani 268, Jind 262, Karnal 252, Panipat 242 and Ambala 233.

The size and scale of this “tsunami” of death can be gauged from the fact that 268 people had died across 22 districts of Haryana in August last year and eight months later the disease killed 268 people in Bhiwani district alone in May.

The fatality rate from 0.86% on April 30 has risen to 1.09% on May 30.

More cases in may than total of last year

Haryana had detected 2.62 lakh total positive cases till December 31, 2020. But in May the state recorded over 2.67 lakh Covid-19 positive cases, a clear indicator of how and why everybody including the health institutions were overburdened.

While over 16.26 lakh samples were taken in May, Haryana had barely crossed the 16 lakh mark of total sample collected till September 17-18, 2020. Over 3.39 lakh people also recovered during the month and the recovery rate saw 16.98% jump.

As per the data, in April, over 11.38 lakh samples were collected and over 1.97 lakh new infections were detected in the state while over 1 lakh patients had recovered. However, the recovery rate in April dipped by 16.43% as the recovery rate which was 95.57% on March 31 came down to 79.14% on April 30.

The recovery rate 96.12% in May is almost close to what it was in January.

Khattar updates PM

Under mounting pressure to deliver and control the Covid surge, chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, who crisscrossed the state during medical oxygen crisis and took a series of steps to control the spread, on Monday met Prime Minister Narendra Modi and apprised him how Haryana dealt with the second Covid-19 wave.

Khattar said Prime Minister has expressed satisfaction over the arrangements Haryana government made to control the infection. Khattar also apprised the PM of the present and the future requirements of Haryana to combat Covid-19. The chief minister said that in view of the possibility of third wave, the PM has asked to be alert in the coming times as well. He said that the Prime Minister was also informed about the requirements for vaccine stock and black fungus medicine.

The black fungus, as per official data, has claimed 61 lives in Haryana. There were 821 cases in the state till May 30 out of which 692 were under treatment and 68 people have been cured.