In the state of Punjab, the second wave of Covid-19 is taking a rather unusually catastrophic toll on the people. While the national Covid-19 fatality rate is hovering around the 1 per cent mark, in Punjab, the fatality rate of the same disease stands at a whopping 2.5 per cent. That is at least 1.5 per cent more than the national average. In such a scenario, it becomes important to understand what is causing such a high fatality rate in Punjab, which by all estimates, is abnormally higher than India’s national average.
Punjab had reported a total of 6,868 deaths due to the infection as of March 31. The death toll rose to 11,477 as of May 14, showing 4,609 more people succumbing to the disease since April 1 this year, the state Health Department’s data revealed. Essentially, Punjab recorded 40 per cent of its total Covid-19 deaths during the past 44 days.
State Health Department officials cited the delay in approaching hospitals for treatment by patients with severe symptoms and comorbidities as the main reason behind fatalities. That, added with the reported ineptitude of the Congress government in Punjab to handle the health crisis might be significant reasons behind the 2.5 per cent fatality rate in the state.
However, nobody really seems to be interested in dissecting the real problem. The main factor which is contributing to the unusually high fatalities in Punjab is that of the ‘farmers’ returning to the state’s rural areas and acting like super-spreaders of the contagion. Interestingly, these super-spreaders, while at the protest sites, observed close to no Covid-appropriate behaviour.
In the absence of masks, such ‘protestors’ were exposed to a significantly higher virulent load. Back in Punjab, particularly in the state’s rural areas, those not wearing masks – which is a significant number too, were then exposed to such super spreaders. They too were exposed to a high viral contagion load of the already highly transmissible B.1.617 (first found in India) and B.1.1.7 (first found in the UK) variants.
According to a Jagran report, local protest sites in Punjab are witnessing ‘farmers’ openly and quite flagrantly disobeying all Covid-related SOPs. No masks, social distancing, sanitisation or the kind are visible at any of the protest sites within Punjab. Most definitely, in such cases, all protestors are exposed to a higher viral load, which makes recovery from Covid-19 all the more difficult.
The farmers’ protests have harmed the country in every imaginable way possible. From costing millions in loss to the exchequer by holding the borders of the national capital hostage to delaying the supply of oxygen tankers to now being the prime cause of the spread of Covid-19, the farmers’ protests are in the middle of each mishap. Now, the protests are beginning to have adverse effects on the lives of thousands of people in Punjab. It is about time that the masterminds behind these protests are rounded up and jailed.