In the month of May, the death rate from the COVID-19 pandemic has sharply increased across the country. Delhi has registered the highest case fatality rate (CFR) amongst other bigger states in the 1st three weeks of May month, i.e.,till 21st May.

The capital city recorded 6,684 deaths, a little over 2.63 lakh cases reported in this period, which means a CFR of 2.54%. This is over twice the fatality rate of 1.12% recorded in Delhi in the earlier 3 weeks and is significantly more than the capitals overall CFR of 1.63%.

The national CFR so far is 1.17% in this month, a sharp increase from 0.73% that was recorded in the previous three weeks (10th-30th April). Deaths have increased at a sharper rate in May so far.

India has reported 83,135 deaths in May, a 92% upsurge from the 43,258 deaths in the previous three weeks. Cases have increased by around 20%, from 59.5 lakh in 10th-20th April to 71.3 lakh in 1st-21st May. Cases are dropping since peaking around 8th May but the death rate has shown a lower decline, due to apause of around two weeks that is normally seen in trends in deaths as compared to cases. The overall CFR of India is 1.13%.

Punjab has the 2nd highest death rate of 2.46% in May. Uttarakhand, which was the venue of this years Kumbh Mela, has the 3rd highest CFR of 2.34% and is higher than the rate in the earlier three weeks (i.e., 1.18%). The states overall rate of 1.85% is indicating a big surge in deaths in recent weeks.

Source: ET Healthworld