As the second wave of the coronavirus pandemic continues to rattle India and concerns compound by the day, Maharashtra, the worst-affected state may be leading in numbers in terms of daily figures of new infections and deaths and nearing the peak, but the situation has worsened in several other states.
“The situation in several other states is highly explosive and likely to get worse than Maharashtra if one looks at the percentage increase over five weeks. For the first time Maharashtra has shown some respite this week, only 8% cases up but testing up by 14%, so it is minus 6% over last week,” according to research done by Organised Medicine Academic Guild (OMAG).
The current wave of Covid-19 seems to be from highly infectious but less virulent (lethal) strains including double strains namely E484Q and L452R, says Dr Ishwar Gilada, Secretary-General, OMAG.
Also read: India stares at crisis as it hits record 2.61 lakh single-day Covid-19 cases, over 1,500 deaths
“The explosion in Covid daily numbers in the highly populous states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is 226 and 142 times respectively in the last five weeks. States of Uttarakhand 67 times, Rajasthan 39 times, Chhattisgarh 33 times up in five weeks. Elections bound states barring Kerala viz. West Bengal, Assam and Tamil Nadu have surged by 29, 26 and 13 times respectively. They are all cause for serious concern. Kerala has surged only by a mere 100% in this period,” according to the OMAG analysis.
Dr Gilada said that almost 85% of patients are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic.
Meanwhile, even as the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) – number of Covid deaths from the recorded cases of infections – has reduced, young people in the 26-45 age group are not only getting infected but have severe infections. CFR is one of the robust markers to gauge the severity of the pandemic.
According to Dr Gilada, increased vaccination pace is required to prevent the third and subsequent surges. It prevents Covid-related severe illness in 93% and Covid-related deaths in nearly 99% of vaccinated people. But it prevents 60-80% of vaccinated people from Covid infections.