In a month, Goa sees over 400% rise in Covid deaths

PANAJI: As Goa continues to have the country’s highest Covid-19 testing rate, the state’s positivity and mortality rates have also inched higher, indicating the state’s struggle to contain the spread of the infection.
Over the past 30 days till August 13, Goa’s mortality rate increased from 0.6% to 0.9%. While it’s still lower than the national average rate of 2%, it remains a worrying sign.

On Friday, health minister Vishwajit Rane said that Goa has the country’s lowest fatality rate. However, states like Manipur and Kerala have a fatality rate of 0.3%, while for Sikkim, the figure stands at 0.1%.
From July 13, the number of Covid-19 fatalities shot up from 17 deaths to 91 this week, a 435% jump. This sharp rise comes at a time when deaths at the national level as a proportion of confirmed cases continues to fall.
Since July 13, Goa has seen a sharp increase in the number of Covid-19 cases, suggesting that the state is struggling to keep the pandemic in check. And ironically, a clear illustration is the rising number of health care professionals who are getting infected, particularly at the GMC.
On July 13, just two of every 100 persons tested in Goa were Covid-positive. A month later, that number rose to six. This, however, is lower than the national positivity rate, which stands at 9%.
Nationwide, the positivity rate has been increasing as states ramp up their testing facilities and given that Goa has conducted 1,59,159 tests till date, doctors and researchers said that it is natural that more Covid-19 cases will come to light.
In the states that have a lower fatality rate that Goa, Kerala has 39,708 confirmed cases, of which 13,842 are active. The state has lost 130 people to the pandemic. Manipur, meanwhile, has recorded 13 deaths, and 1,804 of its 4,112 cases are active. Sikkim has 932 confirmed cases, with only 1 death.
Niti Aayog ranks Goa among the top five small states in terms of health indicators, where Manipur takes the first rank. Goa is also among the top three in the Human Development Index, where Kerala leads the rankings.