Coronavirus: Centre urges Maharashtra, Andhra, Karnataka to maintain mortality rates below 1%

The Centre on Saturday urged the governments of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka to break the chain of transmission of the coronavirus and focus on maintaining the mortality rates in their states below 1%, PTI reported.

“The states have been advised to proactively ensure higher testing, effective clinical management to lower fatality and save lives along with efficient monitoring at various levels,” the health ministry said in a statement.

These three states accounted for 46% active cases and 52% deaths on Friday. Maharashtra alone accounted for 35% of all deaths registered and 22% of active cases reported on Friday.

Till Saturday morning, Maharashtra had reported a total of 8,63,062 cases, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare. This included 2,11,325 active cases and 25,964 deaths. Andhra Pradesh, meanwhile, recorded 4,76,506 total cases, including 1,02,067 active infections and 4,276 deaths. Karnataka’s tally was 3,79,486, including 99,120 active cases and 6,170 deaths.

The home ministry also highlighted districts of concern in each state. In Maharashtra, Pune, Nagpur, Kolhapur, Sangli, Nashik, Ahmednagar, Raigad, Jalgaon, Solapur, Satara and Palghar were highlighted. The ministry also emphasised the need for effective containment and contact tracing in these areas.

“In Andhra Pradesh, Prakasam and Chittoor were highlighted as districts of concern and the need for daily monitoring of facility wise deaths, strengthening of hospital facilities, increasing the number of ICUs, oxygen beds and efficient clinical management were focused upon,” the statement said.

It added: “In Karnataka, the highlighted districts of Koppal, Mysuru, Davangere and Ballari were advised to optimally utilise RT-PCR [reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction] testing facilities, to strengthen their door-to-door active case search and to protect their healthcare workers.”

The cases in India crossed the 40-lakh mark on Saturday morning. With a record 86,432 new cases in 24 hours, India’s tally rose to 40,23,179. The toll is now 69,561, while 31,07,233 people have recovered. India is soon likely to overtake Brazil, which has recorded 40.91 lakh cases so far.

Overall, five states – Maharashtra (24.97%), Andhra Pradesh (12.06%), Karnataka (11.71%), Uttar Pradesh (6.92%) and Tamil Nadu (6.10%) – account for over 60% of the active cases in India, the Centre said.

Of the total deaths in the country, 70% were recorded in Maharashtra (37.33%), Tamil Nadu (11.05%), Karnataka (8.87%), Delhi (6.49%) and Andhra Pradesh (6.15%).