Mohali has max 183 Covid deaths in tricity

Naina Mishra

Tribune News Service

Chandigarh, September 27

With 183 Covid-19 fatalities and 9,992 cases, Mohali district has the highest death toll in the tricity. Panchkula has been able to keep Covid-19 deaths to minimum at 80.

Prof JS Thakur from the Department of Community Medicine, PGI, who headed the Central team for reviewing the Covid-19 preparedness in Punjab, explains: “Punjab has more load of non-communicable diseases and 90 per cent deaths in the state are in patients having co-morbid conditions. Prevalence of hypertension in the state is 40 per cent and diabetes is 15 per cent. All these factors contribute to fatalities due to the virus. The similar pattern has been observed in Mohali as well.”

Prof Thakur said: “Other things that have been noticed are that there is late diagnosis of the virus. People should come forward when they develop symptoms so that mortality can be reduced with the help of timely diagnosis.”

The Mohali Civil Surgeon, Dr Manjit Singh, said: “Our fatality rate is near 2 per cent. The only reason behind Covid-19 deaths in the district is that many patients have comorbidities. Several patients have died at the GMCH-32, the PGI and the Government Medical College, Patiala. This shows that patients were provided treatment at tertiary care hospitals, but the deaths were caused due to comorbidities. There are very few cases of late detection as we have augmented sampling facility.”

With 5,730 Covid-19 cases, the fatality rate in Panchkula is 1.3 per cent.

The Panchkula CMO, Dr Jasjit Kaur, said: “We have been able to manage with the help of early detection of Covid patients by extensive sampling and contact tracing. As many as 22 collection sites were prepared for easy access to sampling. Strategic rapid antigen test in symptomatic patients and on-the-spot isolation helped in appropriate management of patients before they develop any complications.”

Kaur said: “Effective monitoring of home isolated patients by teams from the Health Department and IMA volunteers on WhatsApp led to timely alert in case of deterioration and admission has worked in our favour.”

She said: “Admission in Level 1 (mild), Level 2 (moderate) and Level 3 (severe) according to the symptoms was managed effectively. We have been following timely referral for critical care in tertiary care by involving three private hospitals, which were equipped to deal with such patients.”

Meanwhile, Chandigarh has recorded 147 Covid-19 deaths and 11,553 cases so far. The city has been witnessing a constant dip in the active cases and the rate at which the infection is growing. The recoveries, on the contrary, have risen to 79 per cent.