COVID-19: April toll crosses earlier record

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As the second wave of COVID 19 surge continues unabated, a death race has erupted. With as many as 40,662 people dying of the infection until April 27. April has surpassed the earlier record by a long shot with three days to spare.

The earlier dubious record was set in September 2020 when death toll was 33,230.

As many as 3,293 persons lost their lives in the country due to the infection on April 27, the Centre said.

Peril of April

At this rate, the death toll in April can easily cross 50,000.

Over the past seven days, the death toll, on an average, hovered around 2,700-2,800. But Tuesday’s figure has set alarm bells ringing among experts.

“Bed and oxygen shortages are the main reason behind the fatalities. The Centre and the state governments with all stakeholders and all national resources must immediately address this issue,” said a senior pulmonologist from Kolkata’s RN Tagore hospital.

“We have to remove all obstacles in the path of treating critical patients. Oxygen, life-saving Remdesivir and other drugs should available. We cannot afford to waste a single minute if a patient turns critical,” said Sabyasachi Saha, a senior resident from Bangur Institute of Neurosciences.

Low fatality rate

In an advisory, the Centre pointed out that the fatality rate — number of deaths per 100 person who tested positive – in India is 1.1% and stated that it is one of the lowest rates in the world.

“A fatality rate of 1.1% is certainly low. But in absolute numbers it’s big. A comparison with the first and second wave is also revealing. If you take an average over the past one week, the fatality rate might touch 6-7%. In the first wave the peak fatality rate in August-September was between 3.5% and 4%,” said Kamal Chatterjee, a private practitioner.

Global scenario

The global picture is grim too. World Health Organisation’s latest data reveals that Brazil occupies the first place in terms of number of deaths per million population. The figure in this country is almost 12 deaths/million population.

France and Russia stood at second and third position with 4.5 deaths/ million population and 2.5 deaths/ million population respectively.

USA with 2.1 deaths/million is just ahead of India that has recorded 1.4 deaths/million population.

Experts said the large population of India (in the denominator of the fraction) has done the trick and pushed India to the fifth position.

Until April 27, the total tally of COVID 19 cases has reached 1,79,97,267, while the death toll has touched 2,01,187.

A total of 1,48,17,371 people have also recovered from the disease so far.