Maharashtra is all over the news as it has the highest number of Covid-19 cases in India with over 7,000 in the state alone. However, there is another state whose rapidly rising numbers are a cause for concern.
Gujarat has reported over 3,000 cases. Maharashtra and Gujarat together accounted for 52% of the 1,273 fresh cases reported in India on Wednesday. Moreover, out of the 39 deaths recorded until Wednesday, both these states made up 79% of the deaths.
This means that a large number of cases and deaths in India are happening in these two states. The city with the highest number of cases in Gujarat is Ahmedabad with around 1298 cases. This is followed by Surat with over 300 cases and then Vadodara at 188.
What is worrying is that compared to the recovery rate of the whole country which is at 19%, the recovery rate in Gujarat is only 6.3%.
Yet, the death rates are among the highest in the state. Ahmedabad reported 9 deaths within only 24 hours. What is also being revealed is that Gujarat is detecting its cases fairly late into the infectious cycle.
This means that since it is not being identified at an earlier stage, the chances of death become higher. Therefore, the fatalities show that 66% of patients died within two days of testing positive.
If we translate the percentage into numbers, of the 71 fatalities recorded till 19th of April, 47 died within two days of testing positive and 13 died on the same day they tested positive.
It is clear that the brunt of coronavirus in India is currently being borne by Maharashtra and Gujarat. And in addition, recently The World Health Organisation (WHO) said:
Make no mistake; we have a long way to go. This virus will be with us for a long time.
The director general of WHO, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus pointed out that the early evidence also suggests that most of the world’s population is still susceptible to the virus.
And therefore, there is a high chance that the virus can reignite. Hence, it is crucial for states like Gujarat and Maharashtra to implement key strategies to reduce the number of new cases and raise the recovery rates in the states.