Peak over in Himachal, Covid cases fall steadily

Subhash Rajta

Tribune News Service

Shimla, May 31

It’s official now. The state has crossed the peak of the more virulent second wave that kicked off towards the end of February in the state.

According to a government spokesperson, the second wave peaked in the May 10-16 week, wherein the state witnessed a record 28,817 new cases and a positivity rate of 28.9 per cent. The wave, however, has subsided pretty rapidly. On May 31, the active case load nosedived to 13,040 from a high of over 40,000, the positivity rate has slipped to 12.9 from a high of 28.9 and new cases per week have dropped to 10,431 from a high of 28,817.

“Restrictions have been eased in the last few days but people will need to continue to follow the Covid- appropriate behaviour to ensure we don’t see any resurgence,” he said. He added that a few districts like Bilaspur, Kinnaur, Shimla, Sirmaur hit the peak a week before the state touched it.

Another indicator that shows that the worst is over is the declining positivity rate across all districts. While the overall positivity rate has declined to 12.9 per cent from 28.9 per cent, districts like Kangra and Sirmaur, which were close to 40 per cent between May 3 to 16, have also seen a remarkable decline in cases. The positivity rate in various districts varies from 3.3 per cent (Lahaul & Spiti) to 17.1 per cent (Kangra).

The decline in these numbers has started reflecting on the occupancy rate in hospitals, too. Currently, out of 3,933 beds available in Covid facilities across the state, only 1,428 are occupied. More significantly, the bed occupancy rate has gone down in packed-to-capacity facilities like the IGMC, Tanda and Nerchowk. While the occupancy rate at the IGMC is 55.5 per cent, at Tanda, it is 51 per cent and 47.2 at Nerwchowk.

However, the matter of concern is the high occupancy of ICU beds (63.6 per cent) and high mortality rate. Even as the active case load and positivity rate has declined, there hasn’t been a corresponding decline in the number of deaths yet.