Covid fatality rate drops below 2.5%; Gujarat and Maharashtra still a worry

According to data released by the Union Health Ministry on Sunday, 29 states and Union Territories have a CFR that is below the national average, with 14 states reporting a CFR of less than 1%.

The Pandemic

Even as India reported over 38,000 fresh Covid-19 cases on Sunday, its highest single-day spike till date, the country can take comfort from the fall in the case fatality rate (CFR) as it dropped below 2.5 per cent for the first time. However, the CFR among big states Maharashtra (3.85), Gujarat (4.48) and West Bengal (2.67) remains a cause for concern.

A 800-bed hospital in Bihar's Bhagalpur is under severe strain due to the lack of manpower and complaints of negligence. Afraid Covid patients wouldn't get proper care, their relatives often sleep on the floor of the isolation ward. And junior resident doctors have either quit or stopped reporting for duty properly.

Although the government continues to insist that coronavirus has not reached the community transmission stage in India, leading scientists disagree and say it has. We look at what community transmission means, and why it no longer matters at this stage.