Winter may witness sharp rise in corona fatality rate, fear experts

BHUBANESWAR: Although the daily Covid count in the state has shown a decline, the fatalities remain steady at 15 per day on an average. On Monday, 16 people succumbed to the infection, taking the number of deaths in the state to 1,543.
A total of 749 people tested positive for Covid-19, raising the virus caseload to 3,09,408. The daily Covid case count has stayed below 1,000 since Friday.
Expertssaid fatalities may increase in winter as those with respiratory distress and comorbidities would be even more vulnerable.
So far, Khurda district has reported the highest number of 268 deaths followed by Ganjam (232) and Cuttack (124). Other districts that have reported close to 100 deaths are Sundargarh, Puri and Balasore with 99, 90 and 79 fatalities, respectively.
Jayant Panda, the government’s technical adviser on Covid-19, said the virus has several strains, of which some are more virulent. “That’s the reason behind the fatalities remaining static despite the fall in the number of new cases. The mutant strain of the virus is causing fatalities. Other reasons are comorbid conditions, delayed reaction and treatment and hiding of symptoms. The unpredictability of the virus still very much persists,” he told TOI.
“The number of cases being reported daily is not directly linked to the fatalities. In many states , fatalities are increasing. In others, they are on the decline. As far as Odisha is concerned, deaths are static,” he added.
In spite of recording around 15 deaths on an average daily, Odisha is one of the states with the lowest death rate. At 0.46 per cent, Odisha’s fatality rate is lower than the national rate of 1.2 per cent. Most deaths have been reported in the age group of 41 to 60 years.
Health experts, however, have time and again cautioned against delayed reaction of people to the symptoms. “In most asymptomatic cases, the lungs are not likely to be affected much and hence there is no need to panic,” an expert said.
They also said many young people with obvious Covid symptoms are not going for tests and were coming to hospital in a critical condition. “Their (youngsters’) complacency and overconfidence put them in trouble. Many elderly people and persons with comorbidities are recovering due to timely intervention,” the experts added.
Ajay Parida, director, Institute of Life Sciences (ILS), said five strains of the Covid-19 virus have been detected in Odisha till August. “Genome sequencing is continuing and we will be able to say whether there are more strains after studying the genome sequencing pattern of September and October,” he said.
Doctors have been stressing on the need to quickly recognise the symptoms of Covid. “Within 48 hours of having symptoms, one should either consult a doctor and start medication at home or get hospitalized depending on severity. People should strictly avoid cross-practice like taking medicines of allopathy, Ayurveda and homoeopathy till the test results come,” doctors said.