With the Covid situation worsening, Himachal Pradesh reported an all-time high of 26 deaths in a single day putting a big question mark on the handling of the health crisis in the hill state.
Many Covid patients are preferring to stay at home instead of getting admitted to government hospitals. Many have chosen to get treated at private hospitals in Chandigarh.
This fast-spreading infection this time has not spared children or adolescents, children from five to 15 years are also getting infected.
Among the 26 people, two are girls --- one a 5-year-old in the state’s worst-affected Kangra district and the second a 10-year-old in Hamirpur district.
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The highest number of deaths is also from Kangra (10), followed by Hamirpur (7) in the past 24 hours. Six persons died in Shimla, the state capital.
Kangra deputy commissioner Rakesh Prajapati said there are 2,926 active cases in the district. There was no shortage of oxygenated beds so far and efforts were underway to break the infection chain as it is spreading at a high pace and resulting in high fatality, not seen in the earlier wave.
Even Solan, a district much smaller than Kangra and Shimla, has 2,276 active cases because of it being part of the industrial belt with residential schools. On Friday, another 216 cases were added to the list of active numbers.
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Though lots of questions were being raised in the testing facility in the districts, barring Shimla’s Indira Gandhi Medical College (IGMC), more than 1,000 to 1,500 positive cases were reported in the state.
In the past five days alone, 7,958 positive cases have been reported with 108 deaths.
Chief Minister Jai Ram Thakur has ruled out any possibility of a lockdown in the state but said the deputy commissioners have been told to take a decision in their respective areas about the imposition of special restrictions to contain the spread of the infection.
Heart-breaking stories are pouring in from several districts like one in Hamirpur where a 32-year-old man died within 24 hours of his mother’s demise due to coronavirus. He passed away a few hours after performing his mother’s last rites.
The health officials confirmed that the recovery rate in the state has dropped to 84.71 per cent against 98 per cent till February-March 2021.
Meanwhile, the chief minister said liquid oxygen plants being set up at three major medical colleges --- IGMC Shimla, Dr. Rajendra Prasad Medical College, Tanda (Kangra) and Medical College Ner Chowk (Mandi) will be made functional to ensure 24x7 oxygen supply.
An additional 1,500 beds will also be made available in the state.
