Chandigarh: Punjab has witnessed a four-fold increase in death toll due to COVID-19 in just over a month’s period with the state health authorities attributing the rise in fatalities to the delay in reporting for testing or treatment by people for the contagion.
Similarly, the number of coronavirus cases shot up by over 48,000 since August 1, as per the data available.
The case fatality rate has gone up from 2.37 per cent as on August 1 to 2.93 per cent as on September 7 in the state, as per the medical bulletin data.
Against the 405 COVID-19 deaths as on August 1, the number of fatalities has reached 1,923 as on Monday.
According to state health officials, 75 per cent of these deaths took place in cases of COVID-19 patients who were above 50 years of age.
They further said the main reason behind the surge in deaths was delayed diagnosis in patients reporting for testing or treatment at the COVID facilities.
On September 2, the state had witnessed a record 106 deaths in a single day.
Health minister Balbir Singh Sidhu had at that time said 67 per cent of all COVID deaths were due to patients reporting at a health facility for the first time after suffering severe signs and symptoms.
These cases then become difficult to manage, leading to fatality, Sidhu had said.
The number of coronavirus cases in Punjab has also been on the rise since the past one month.
Till August 1, the state had reported a total of 17,063 coronavirus cases. It has now climbed to 65,583, as per the medical bulletin.
The number of active cases has also gone up from 5,583 as on August 1 to 16,640 as on September 7.
Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Patiala, Amritsar and Patiala are the worst-affected districts by the COVID-19 pandemic.
These five districts accounted for 57 per cent of the total coronavirus cases in the state, as per the medical bulletin.