Third wave: Caseload high but mortality remains low

While Panchkula saw several deaths during the peak of the second wave with more than 500 cases being reported each day, only one Covid related death has been reported in the month of January. It was on January 4, when a 47-year-old woman, resident of Rampur Jangi in Panchkula, who was suffering from cancer, succumbed.

With 1,903 active cases, as many as 1,857 are under home isolation and only 46 who have been admitted to hospitals.

“Deaths in the district have been witnessed sparingly in this wave. Only those with other very serious comorbidities have succumbed after extracting Covid. Most cases are mild and have not required hospitalisation,” added Dr Mukta.

Meanwhile, tests have been ramped up and more than 2,000 are being sampled each day. While the department is attempting to conduct random sampling in hotspot areas, lack of manpower and excessive crowd at sampling centres are few hurdles that have cropped up.

“We are conducting random sampling as per before but with several healthcare workers infected with Covid, we are definitely facing a manpower issue. Moreover, we are getting huge crowd of symptomatic persons queuing up to be tested. We cannot ignore them and conduct tests at random. We are delegating all manpower we have, in the best way possible,” said Dr Mukta.

At least eight healthcare workers have tested positive on Tuesday. More than 20 have tested positive in the past few days in district. As cases continue to rise, already breaching numbers recorded during the peak of second wave, the health department and district administration remain wary of the situation.