COVID-19 Lockdown 3.0: Mumbai is India's worst-affected city with 12,864 cases; West Bengal records highest mortality rate at 9.57%

According to the report submitted by the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on 10 May (Sunday), India has reported 62,939 COVID-19 cases as of Sunday, with Maharashtra alone reporting 20,228 of these infections. For the third consecutive day, India reported an increase in number of cases by more than 3,000 as the toll has reached 2,109, a report by Maharashtra’s Public Health Department stated. The number of cases in India started rising in the week between 21 and 28 March. A week later, a rise in cases was witnessed in Maharashtra. The highest daily rise in the number of cases all over India, however, was reported on 6 May, with 3,900 new infections. [caption id=“attachment_8284841” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Representational image. AP[/caption] As compared to global mortality rate, which is 6.9 percent, India’s toll to confirmed cases percentage currently stands at 3.35 percent.

The highest mortality rate was recorded in West Bengal at 9.57 percent, where 1,786 cases and 171 deaths have been reported. On 5 May, the Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) sent to the state had said that the mortality rate in West Bengal was 12.8 percent. This figure stood lower in Maharashtra, where the mortality rate was 3.85 percent, higher than the national average. Of the 128 new COVID-19 deaths in India, 48 were recorded in India’s financial capital.

With 7,796 infections, Gujarat reported a mortality rate of 6.05 percent. The figure in Delhi, which has the third highest number of cases in the country, stood at 1.12 percent. Tamil Nadu, however, reported a 0.67 mortality rate, despite having the fourth highest number of cases at 6,535. Kerala, which has received praise for flattening the curve has witnessed four deaths among the 505 confirmed cases so far, bringing the mortality rate to 0.79 percent. Bihar and Odisha, with 591 and 294 confirmed cases respectively, too have reported figures under 1 percent.

Report of coronavirus cases… by Srishti Kapoor on Scribd

In Maharashtra, Mumbai is the worst-affected city, with 12,864 cases and 489 deaths. Pune, Thane and Navi Mumbai have, so far, registered 1,975, 800 and 780 cases, respectively. While COVID-19 has been observed to have a higher impact on the elderly and those with co-morbidities, the highest number of COVID-19 cases in Maharashtra has been reported in the age group of 21-30 years. According to the report, at least 4,197 in the age group have contracted the virus. Of the total infections in Maharashtra, 62 percent of males contracted it while 38 percent among them were females. Additionally, co-morbidities were present in 72 percent of the cases. Of the 2,25,524 samples tested, 92 percent gave a positive result. Of the 12,823 patients undergoing treatment, 2 percent are critical and 79 percent are asymptomatic. India, however, continues to handle the outbreak better than some countries, reporting 56,342 cases in the outbreak’s 15th week. At that time, USA reported 9,83,457, cases, France 1,28,121 cases and China 84,341 cases. India trails behind South Korea, credited for battling the coronavirus pandemic effectively, have reported 13,385 cases in the 15th week.