Maharashtra's daily average COVID deaths doubled from July to Sept: Union Health Ministry

Maharashtra tops daily average deaths due to Coronavirus infections among the top five states and the rate is increasing, Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday. India's worst-hit state by the pandemic has so far reported 29,894 deaths, the highest in the country.

Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan informed that daily average deaths in Maharashtra were 202 during the first week of July whereas now it is 409.

Following Maharashtra is Karnataka, with 121 daily average deaths. Uttar Pradesh (73), Tamil Nadu (72), and Andhra Pradesh (69) are the rest of the top five states in daily average deaths. Though, Bhushan pointed out that there are signs of decline seen in Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.

Moreover, nearly 69% of the total deaths are concentrated in five states — Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Delhi.

On the other hand, there are 14 states and unions territories in India where the total number of active COVID-19 cases is less than 5,000, the Health Ministry official said. While there are 18 states and UTs where total active cases are between 5,000-50,000, only four states have more than 50,000 active COVID-19 cases.

Alarmingly, daily new COVID-19 cases which were around 6,000 during the first week of July in Maharashtra has increased to more than 21,000 now. The state has so far reported 10,77,374 Coronavirus cases, of which 7,55,850 have recovered while 2,91,256 are still under medical supervision.

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No shortage of oxygen

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry assured that there is no shortage of oxygen in the country and the capacity for production of oxygen is slightly more than 6,900 metric tonne.

Amid reports of a shortfall in oxygen supply across India, Rajesh Bhushan said problems happen when there is no proper inventory management at a health facility-level. "Each state needs to ensure proper inventory management so that oxygen can be replenished in time," the official said.

COVID-19 crisis in India

Currently, there are 48,46,427 confirmed novel coronavirus cases in India out of which 38,59,399 patients have been discharged while 80,776 (1.64%) have died. At present, there are 9,90,061 active cases. With 79,292 persons recovering from COVID-19 in the last 24 hours, the country's recovery rate soared to 78.28%.

(PTI Photo)

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