In Punjab, Covid fatality rate rises to 2.7%

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, June 24

Though the number of Covid cases and deaths has come down drastically in Punjab, the case fatality rate has gone up. The CFR has increased because the number of deaths and cases has not come down in the same proportion.

For the past two weeks, the state’s case fatality ratio has remained above 5 per cent. Last week (16-23 June), the CFR was 6.1 per cent. The state’s overall CFR has also increased to 2.7 per cent from 2.6 per cent around 10 days back. The number of cases and deaths started coming down last month, but the case fatality rate went up. It increased to 4.2 per cent in the first week of June. In the subsequent week (June 8 to 14), it rose further to 5.8.

At present the state’s overall CFR is 2.7 per cent, which means for every 100 confirmed cases, 2.7 have passed away from the virus. In April, the CFR had come down to 2.4. This increase in fatality rate is being seen nationally also. It was 1.2 per cent around 10 days back, and now it is 1.3 per cent.

At present, the CFR in Haryana is 1.2 per cent, Jammu & Kashmir 1.4 per cent; Himachal Pradesh 1.7 per cent and Chandigarh 1.3 per cent. Several districts in Punjab have over 3 per cent CFR. In the last seven days (June 16 to June 23), the state reported 3,016 cases and 185 deaths. Thus the state’s case fatality rate in the last seven days remained 6.1.

On an average, the daily number of cases last week came down to 450, which in the middle of last month stood between 8,000 and 9,000. The average daily deaths remained around 25.