Akola races to 300 cases in 43 days, fastest in Vidarbha

Nagpur: With 29 new confirmed positive cases of Covid-19, Akola surpassed the 300 mark on Wednesday. Akola had reported its first case on April 7 and first death on April 15. Within 43 days, the city has reported 308 cases and 20 deaths, including one suicide.
Akola’s population is one-third that of Nagpur, and it’s second highest in Vidarbha when it comes to Covid-19 cases.Akola is headquarters of health service division and has its own Covid-19 testing facility at the local GMCH. Despite series of contamination drives, strict lockdowns, curfews and odd-even schemes, number of cases has kept growing in Akola. In last six days, Akola has recorded 122 new cases and six deaths. With returnees coming from other hotspot zones, there is no chance of respite from Covid-19 cases in near future for the town.
“In Akola, we have 308 total cases, but our recovery rate is also good. Till date, 167 patients have recovered and been discharged. We have 121 active cases at present, and many of them are recovering fast,” said resident deputy collector of Akola Sanjay Khadse.
Akola has seen the highest number of deaths in Vidarbha. The only suicide in Vidarbha region has also happened in Akola. Out of the 19 deaths in Akola, nine have happened inside the isolation ward with the patient undergoing treatment. Doctors at GMCH blame comorbidities of patients for these deaths. A senior doctor said most patients who died in treatment had severe cardiovascular problems, diabetes or respiratory illnesses like TB and SARI.
Another alarming fact in Akola is that the novel coronavirus is widespread in city. Unlike Nagpur and Amravati, where two or three localities are hotspots and most cases are emerging from there, Akola reports cases from many localities. Initially, cases were detected from Baidpura and Akot File localities, but now at least 14 localities have significant number of patients, and have become contamination zones. Akola district also has significant number of cases from towns like Murtizapur, Patur and Akot.
Akola district collector Jitendra Papalkar had introduced first-of-its kind ‘odd-even’ formula for district earlier this month. The plan was to keep shops and markets open on odd dates and observe complete curfew on even dates. But residents opposed this plan and the collector had to withdraw it.
On May 21, Akola guardian minister Bachchu Kadu will be in town to take stock of the Covid-19 situation.