Centre Says High COVID Death Rate In Punjab 'Unacceptable', Asks Government To Set Up Review Panel

The Union Health Ministry has asked the state government of Punjab to set up a death review committee amid the high rate of deaths due to COVID in the state.

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, held a meeting with the health ministers and principal secretaries of nine states including Punjab which are reporting high COVID fatalities in the country.

Punjab has been reporting case fatality rate (CFR) of 3.15 per cent which is more than double of the national average which is at 1.49 per cent. The health minister termed the high death rates within 24 hours as unacceptable and demanded the Punjab government to investigate the reasons behind these high death rates in government as well as private officials.

Various districts of the state have been recording, record-breaking death rates which include Ropar (4.8 per cent), Fatehgarh Sahib (4.7 per cent), Tarn Taran (4.5 per cent), Kapurthala (4.1 per cent) and Ludhiana (4.01 per cent).

The testing average of the state has gone down. Other states like Andhra Pradesh, Assam, West Bengal, Rajasthan, Himachal Pradesh, Telangana, Haryana and Kerala were also reviewed. Over the last one week, Punjab has registered an increase of 15 per cent in the number of COVID cases.

With festivals are around the corner it is feared that there might be a sharp spike in COVID-19 numbers in the state. Husan Lal, state Health Secretary spoke on the death review committee and how it plays an important role in the fight against COVID and Punjab has already constituted it.

"The committee was constituted around four weeks back and it is an independent entity. It includes representatives from AIIMS, hospitals and medical colleges. There are further sub-committees which collate data and share with the apex committee which then analyses the cause of deaths," Indian Express quoted Lal as saying.

Speaking on the reasons behind high death rates in some districts of Punjab the health secretary mentioned that various factors have to be checked before reaching to a conclusion. "We have to check if there are L3 medical facilities available in these districts or not, whether there has been a delay in the patient moving from L2 to L3, whether there were delays in transportation etc. The hospitals, government as well as private, have been busy managing the outbreak and now they are providing all the data for analysis."

The average testing had been ranging between 18,000 to 22,000 he added. Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary asked the states to focus on areas like market places, religious places.

Increased testing in such places and compulsory testing of symptomatic RAT negatives, Increasing the share of RT-PCR testing and tracking an average of 10-15 contacts per new case detected.

On Monday Punjab recorded 562 new cases and 21 deaths due to the virus. Three deaths were reported from Hoshiarpur, and two each from Amritsar, Bathinda, Jalandhar, Kapurthala, Ludhiana, Mohali, Patiala and Tarn Taran districts.

Muktsar and Sangrur reported 1 death each.4,934 active covid cases are reported in Punjab by the Punjab Government medical bulletin, and the total number of deaths stands at 4,338 as of Monday.

On Monday, 9,701 samples were collected127 patients are on oxygen support and 14 are in ventilator in the state at present. 510 patients were discharged on Monday.

As per the Punjab government medical bulletin, there are 4,934 active Covid cases in Punjab while the total number of deaths stands at 4,338 as of Monday. As many as 9,701 samples were taken on Monday while 127 patients are on oxygen support in the state and 14 who are on ventilator at present. A total of 510 patients were discharged on Monday.

Also Read: COVID-19 Vaccine 90% Effective In Phase Three Trial, Says Pfizer