Ranchi: As many as 56 patients have succumbed to Covid since January 1, when the Omicron variant of the SarCov-2 virus was first detected officially in Jharkhand. The reports of Omicron positive cases arrived only on Saturday from the Institute of Life Sciences (ILS) in Bhubaneshwar where the samples were sent for genome sequencing.
The state health department’s Covid-19 bulletin said the total number of fatalities stood at 5,143 on December 30. Between December 30 and January 15, the number of deaths rose to 5,199, which means that on average at least three persons died during that period.
Most of the deaths were reported from East Singbhum (23), followed by Ranchi (nine), Bokaro (seven), Seraikela-Kharsawan (four), Hazaribag (three), Koderma (two) and one each in Dhanbad and Godda. Officials said most of the victims were above 60 years or above who were vaccinated but with multiple co-morbidities. While the number of hospitalizations has been low during the ongoing third wave of the pandemic, though the number of cases is rising rapidly — the daily casualties is emerging as a concern for the health department as they are not exactly sure whether the recent deaths were due to Omicron or the Delta variant.
On Saturday, additional chief secretary (health) Arun Kumar Singh had said that out of the 87 samples sent to ILS from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) for genome sequencing, 14 were confirmed for the Omicron variant while one was found infected with the Delta variant and 32 samples were other Variants of Concern (VOC) of the SarCov-2 virus. The 32 samples tested for the presence of VoC are of mixed nature and were not categorized separately, Singh added.
While commenting on the Covid deaths, Dr Pradeep Bhattacharya, the head of the trauma centre at Rims, said, “We could probably say that those who died of Covid in the past few weeks were infected with Omicron but no one can say this with a guarantee at the moment unless each case is studied. At the same time, it is difficult to say that the deaths were solely due to Covid as a majority of the deaths are of people who had severe comorbid conditions.”
He added, “Most of the deaths that took place at the trauma centre amid the ongoing third wave were due to heart attacks, acute pneumonia and kidney ailments, among other complications. Later on, they were also found to be Covid positive. The situation during the second wave was different where deaths were purely due to Covid as there were many instances where a healthy person turned severe overnight, leading to his/her death. We are not in that situation at the moment, fortunately and practically speaking, such fatalities are difficult to contain on any given day.”
An official at the state Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme cell said that they are evaluating the deaths to analyse the cause. The official added, “The underlying reason behind the deaths is that often the non-Covid patients, who have serious co-morbidities that require check-up at regular intervals, are not coming to the hospital for their routine check-up for fear of contracting the virus and later on when their condition worsens, they get themselves hospitalised but by then, it is already too late and the situation has gone out of hand.”
The state health department’s Covid-19 bulletin said the total number of fatalities stood at 5,143 on December 30. Between December 30 and January 15, the number of deaths rose to 5,199, which means that on average at least three persons died during that period.
Most of the deaths were reported from East Singbhum (23), followed by Ranchi (nine), Bokaro (seven), Seraikela-Kharsawan (four), Hazaribag (three), Koderma (two) and one each in Dhanbad and Godda. Officials said most of the victims were above 60 years or above who were vaccinated but with multiple co-morbidities. While the number of hospitalizations has been low during the ongoing third wave of the pandemic, though the number of cases is rising rapidly — the daily casualties is emerging as a concern for the health department as they are not exactly sure whether the recent deaths were due to Omicron or the Delta variant.
On Saturday, additional chief secretary (health) Arun Kumar Singh had said that out of the 87 samples sent to ILS from Rajendra Institute of Medical Sciences (Rims) for genome sequencing, 14 were confirmed for the Omicron variant while one was found infected with the Delta variant and 32 samples were other Variants of Concern (VOC) of the SarCov-2 virus. The 32 samples tested for the presence of VoC are of mixed nature and were not categorized separately, Singh added.
While commenting on the Covid deaths, Dr Pradeep Bhattacharya, the head of the trauma centre at Rims, said, “We could probably say that those who died of Covid in the past few weeks were infected with Omicron but no one can say this with a guarantee at the moment unless each case is studied. At the same time, it is difficult to say that the deaths were solely due to Covid as a majority of the deaths are of people who had severe comorbid conditions.”
He added, “Most of the deaths that took place at the trauma centre amid the ongoing third wave were due to heart attacks, acute pneumonia and kidney ailments, among other complications. Later on, they were also found to be Covid positive. The situation during the second wave was different where deaths were purely due to Covid as there were many instances where a healthy person turned severe overnight, leading to his/her death. We are not in that situation at the moment, fortunately and practically speaking, such fatalities are difficult to contain on any given day.”
An official at the state Integrated Disease Surveillance Programme cell said that they are evaluating the deaths to analyse the cause. The official added, “The underlying reason behind the deaths is that often the non-Covid patients, who have serious co-morbidities that require check-up at regular intervals, are not coming to the hospital for their routine check-up for fear of contracting the virus and later on when their condition worsens, they get themselves hospitalised but by then, it is already too late and the situation has gone out of hand.”
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