Five out of every 100 people tested have been found positive in J&K in the last two weeks of April, depicting the widespread SARS-CoV2 infection here. In addition, COVID19 fatalities have also seen a sudden spurt in the recent past.
In April, as many as 45,123 people have been found positive in J&K, out of the 12,16,934 tested, analysis of J&K’s official data on the pandemic reveals. The positive percentage in April has been 3.7, which is a steep rise from the positive percentage of the previous year and even the previous month.
March recorded just 4,519 cases, out of the 8,49,922 samples tested. In March, the positive percentage of samples was just 0.5 – out of every 1000 tests, 5 were found infected with SARS-CoV2.
The last two weeks of April have seen even worse spread of infection as between 15 and 30 April, 33,206 samples have been found positive out of 6,19,803 tested. The percentage of samples testing positive during this time is 5.01– out of every 100 tests, five are found positive.
April also witnessed a sharp rise in deaths attributed to COVID19. Although, in the first two weeks, only 52 people succumbed to the virus, in the last two weeks the toll was 5.3 i.e. more than five times that of the first two weeks.
Although the death rate of March and April has remained stable, between 0.6 to 0.8 percent, in terms of absolute numbers, the toll of the viral disease has been alarming between 15 and 30 April.
The rising numbers of cases have pushed up the admissions in hospitals, even as the admission percentage remains the same as before. In March, 5.4 percent of the active cases, 139 patients were admitted across hospitals of J&K. In April, 3 percent of active cases, 878 patients, are admitted in hospitals.
The active cases jumped from 10,000 in the middle of April to over 28,000 at the end of the month.
A senior healthcare official said that the fast spread of the viral illness was “a grave concern”.
“We may argue that the death rate has remained the same and so has the rate of hospitalization, but our base number has increased sharply,” he said while referring to the new cases and the number of active cases.
He said the higher positive percentage was an indicator of the facilities that would be required to handle the “brewing storm”.
“If we want to save J&K from a Delhi like catastrophe, we need to work 24 x 7 to increase the capacity of our hospitals. Every bed must have oxygen,” he said.