India coronavirus numbers explained: Deaths becoming hard to handle

India Coronavirus (Covid-19) Cases Numbers: More than three quarters of the deaths have been happening in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi, and this number has been increasing.




India Coronavirus (Covid-19) Cases: As India keeps on adding more and more novel Coronavirus cases each day, the most worrisome metric now is the consequent rise in the number of deaths. Although deaths as a proportion of total number of cases has actually gone down in the last one month, in absolute terms, it is becoming a big number, something that is testing the capacities of hospitals and cremation grounds, especially because these deaths are concentrated in a small number of places.

On Thursday, 357 deaths were reported across the country, a big jump from previous days’ numbers. Before this, the maximum number of deaths reported on a single day was 294. A month ago, less than 100 deaths were being reported every day. In this last one month, 190 deaths have been reported every day on an average. The total number of deaths has climbed from 2,206 on May 11, to 8,102 on June 11.

The fatality rate, death as proportion of positive cases, has gone down, however, from 3.29 per cent a month ago to 2.83 per cent now, which no doubt is reassuring.

More than three quarters of the deaths have been happening in Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi, and this number has been increasing. A month ago, these three states together accounted for 65 per cent of all deaths, but as the number rose sharply in Delhi after that, from just 73 on May 11 to 1085 now, these states now account for 75 per cent of all deaths.

Top ten states with maximum caseload

 Maharashtra97,6483,60746,0783,590Tamil Nadu38,7161,87520,705349Delhi34,6871,87712,7311,085Gujarat22,06751315,1011,385Uttar Pradesh12,0884787,292345Rajasthan11,7252388,662265Madhya Pradesh10,2411927,042431West Bengal9,7684403,988442Karnataka6,2452042,97674Bihar5,9582603,08634

Reducing the number of deaths is now the primary focus of the authorities in these states, and also in other places. In all recent communications with the Maharasthra government, for example, the Centre has been stressing on the need to direct its energies towards saving lives. There have already been reports of hospitals in Mumbai having to keep dead bodies in general wards alongside patients, and cremation grounds having to turn people away because they did not have capacity to cremate all the arriving dead bodies.

Some state governments have been caught trying to hide the actual number of deaths due to Covid-19 disease. As early as in mid-April, West Bengal, which till that time had been reporting only 30-odd deaths, was forced to accept that it was not counting 72 deaths because these were assessed to have been caused by other co-morbidities. Those 72 states were later on included in the state number. Delhi was caught in a similar situation in May when hospitals reported a much higher number of deaths than the official bulletin was reporting. Delhi adjusted the death numbers and it rose sharply after that. However, a fresh controversy was ignited on Thursday when the municipal corporations in Delhi claimed that even this was not enough, and that the actual number of deaths in the Capital could be at least twice the number that is currently being reported.

On Thursday, the number of new cases in the country was more than 10,800. The total number of infections in the country is now just a shade below three lakh. Maharashtra also reported a big jump in its daily number of new cases, which crossed 3,500 figure for the first time.

The growth rate of cases in the country, however, is still below four per cent, while the doubling time is more than 18 days.

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