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Gurugram records five Covid deaths in a day, number of cases breaches 2K mark
Gurugram
Gurugram
The district on Monday recorded five deaths — the highest single day spike in fatalities due to the virus so far — taking Gurugram’s Covid-19 toll to nine. Health officials said that in all the fresh deaths that were reported age and co-morbid conditions acted as a contributing factor.
Gurugram on Monday also recorded 243 new cases of the virus, taking the total count of people infected with SARS-CoV-2 virus past the 2,000 mark .
According to the state health bulletin, 2,165 cases have been so far reported in the city — 1,577 of who are hospitalized and 579 are discharged. As of Monday,, Gurugram’s contribution to Haryana’s Covid-19 burden was nearly 50%.
More than 1,100 cases have been reported in the last seven days alone, making it one of the 38 districts in the country with the highest surge in Covid-19 cases.
The sudden spike in the cases has also led to reshuffling in the district health department. A senior government official in Chandigarh confirmed that the district’s chief medical officer Jaswant Singh Punia has been transferred. “Orders for his transfer have been issued,” said the official who asked not to be named.
Contacted, Punia however said that he was not aware of the development.
On Monday, the district’s rapid response team confirmed two elderly patients, aged 85 and 80, had succumbed to Covid-19 in Medeor Hospital. A 56-year-old patient admitted in Park Hospital died due to multiple organ failure, and a 72-year-old succumbed in the same hospital with chronic pancreatitis. A 65-year-old admitted in Max Hospital also was reported to have succumbed to the virus.
“In all the= cases, age and co-morbidity has been a contributing factor. This is the highest number of deaths reported in a day,” said Jai Prakash, district surveillance officer. Currently, at least 10 critical patients have been put on ventilator support in three hospitals of the city. It includes four in Medanta and three, each in Fortis and Medeor Hospital, he said.
Data shows that in the last one week the infection has rapidly spread in the city. Gurugram had only 903 cases till June 1. However, in the next eight days at least 300 more people contracted the virus. Officials said that the growth rate in the infection has been almost 13% in just the last one week. The growing number of cases also indicates that the percentage of test positivity (the number of cases in ratio to the number of samples tested) in the city has exponentially increased from 3% on May 1 to almost 57% on June 7.
The surge in number of cases started from May 28 onwards when 68 cases were reported, taking the total count to 405. The positivity rate was 24% at that time. It drastically increased to 53% on May 29 with 115 new cases. It was also then that for the first time new cases were reported in three-digit figures. Later, it fluctuated between 29% to 47%. With 230 cases reported on Sunday, the test positivity rate reached 57%, highlighting the rapid pace at which the virus is spreading.
The Union ministry of health and family welfare on Monday held a meeting with the officials of 38 districts in ten states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Telangana, Haryana, Rajastha, Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh —witnessing a surge in cases.
“We are again starting house-to-house survey for timely detection of cases and also the number of teams will be increased,” said the senior state official.
“We are prioritizing high-risk contacts of Covid-19 patients. In the meeting, it was discussed how vulnerable population like elderly or those with co-morbidities have to be focused upon to prevent fatality. Active surveillance will continue, testing will be increased and it will be ensured that patient gets the tertiary care as the symptoms escalates,” said a health official.
