In terms of absolute number of COVID-19 cases, Gurugram is the worst hit in Haryana, but Faridabad, with the second highest number of infection cases, has the highest fatality rate in the State and a poorer recovery rate.
As per the State Health Department bulletin, out of the total 3,325 people having infected in Faridabad till June 27, 71 have died, with the rate being 2.1 % against the State’s mortality rate of 1.62 %. Gurugram has a mortality rate of 1.63% with 83 deaths out of the total 5,070 cases. Also, percentage of deaths due to co-morbidities in Faridabad is lower compared with Gurugram. So far, Gurugram has recorded 35 deaths related to co-morbidities, while Faridabad has seen 22 such deaths.
Besides, 42.85% patients in Faridabad are still under treatment, but Gurugram has a better recovery rate with only 29.94% active cases. Faridabad has 1,425 active cases and Gurugram has 1,518. The cumulative number of cases in Gurugram is 5,070. In Haryana, 35.27% cases are active.
Though districts like Jind, Panchkula, Rewari and Bhiwani have higher percentage of active cases compared with Faridabad, the cumulative cases in each of these is less than 300. With just 392 cases on June 1, Faridabad has recorded 88% of its total cases over the past 26 days.
Anil Pandey, registrar-academic, ESIC Medical College and Hospital, said that as per the policy, COVID-19 patients are discharged after ten days in case they are asymptomatic for three days, but many patients in Faridabad refused to leave the hospital without their test report being negative. Dr. Pandey said that recently, 30 such patients sat on a dharna and refused to leave. He also attributed the lower recovery rate in Faridabad to a fewer people opting for home isolation compared with Gurugram. Dr. Pandey said patients in home isolation were easy to declare recovered after ten days since they were not to be discharged.
Deputy Commissioner Yashpal Yadav said the districts with cases spread over a longer period of time had better recovery rates since the patients were discharged after ten days, as per the policy. He said mortality rate in Faridabad was less, compared to the national average. Mr. Yadav said a survey was under way in the district to identify people with compromised immunity due to illness and provide them immunity boosters.
