Maharashtra may have recorded more deaths and more corona patients among all states but when it comes to mortality rates, the dubious honour of having the peak rate goes to the prime minister’s home state of Gujarat.
Till Thursday, Maharashtra recorded 74 deaths and 1,135 corona patients, giving a mortality rate of 6.34 per cent, the third highest in India. At the same time, Gujarat with 179 patients, has recorded 16 deaths with a mortality rate of 8.94 per cent, while Punjab ranks second with 101 cases and 8 deaths giving a mortality rate of 7.92 per cent.
It comes as no surprise that Kerala, where the first Coronavirus case in the country was detected as early as January 31 has the lowest mortality rate. Though the tiny state on the south west coast had twice as many cases as Gujarat—–mostly Keralites returning from the Gulf—-the death toll is just two giving it a mortality rate of .52 percent.
Excellent health services Next to Kerala are of Rajasthan which despite 381 cases recorded only three deaths—– a mortality rate of 0.78 percent. With 738 cases, Tamil Nadu has reined in the death count to just 8, at a mortality rate of 1.08 and Delhi with 669 cases and 9 deaths notched a mortality rate of 1.34 per cent. Other states that have done well on this front are Haryana, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh.
At the other end, Madhya Pradesh with 229 cases and 13 deaths has the fourth highest mortality rate of 5.68 per cent. Himachal Pradesh with just 18 positive cases and 1 death notched a mortality rate of 5.55 per cent followed by West Bengal with 103 cases and five deaths with a mortality rate of 4.85 per cent.
Since reporting the first death from the virus exactly a month ago on March 10, India has seen another 201 deaths. The country’s death rate of about 3 percent is lower than the global rate, and also much lower than several European countries like the UK, Italy and Spain, according to some medical experts.
India had reported its first COVID-19 death from Karnataka on March 10. India so far has reported 6,412 confirmed cases of coronavirus with a death toll of nearly 200, making it 3.1 percent death rate —percentage of deaths with respect to the total number of confirmed cases.