More Indian states heading towards a Covid-19 crisis as deaths mount

Seven states in India are heading for a Covid crisis like the one witnessed in Delhi in recent days, says a report in the Mint on Thursday. These states recorded a week-on-week increase in deaths greater than Delhi over the past week.

While Delhi saw a week-on-week rise in reported deaths of 6.1 per cent, there were many from these seven that witnessed far higher deaths.

Chhattisgarh topped with 17 per cent, followed by Jharkhand (16 per cent) and Gujarat (10 per cent). Four other states with a sharp spike include Madhya Pradesh, Himachal Pradesh, Rajasthan and Bihar.

There are 27 states in India where Covid-19 deaths have increased over the last fortnight running.

The report also points out that the virus in the second wave is spreading faster across the country than in the first one. There were 317 districts, out of 718 in India, which reported more than 1,000 cases over the past week. And in 70 of them across 16 states, the new cases exceeded by 5,000; just a month ago, there were just nine districts with such high rates, and all in Maharashtra. These include, besides Maharashtra, Kerala, Chhattisgarh and Uttar Pradesh.

Chhattisgarh, one of the most backward states in India, reported the highest weekly increase in confirmed cases and deaths. Last week, it reported 967 weekly deaths – accounting for a tenth of the total in India – and the third highest among all states. And this was from less than 300 deaths just a fortnight ago.

• India