Tirupati: Intense transmission, stigma causing more Corona deaths

Tirupati: The death toll from the novel Coronavirus has almost reached 60,000 mark in the country in which Andhra Pradesh accounts for about 3,200 fatalities so far. Taking an example from one district, Chittoor which has reported 116 deaths in the initial four months, has almost doubled the figure in just 22 days in August to register 330 deaths.

While the Covid-19 positivity rate was on rise since the lockdown norms were relaxed, the corresponding hike in death toll has become a major cause for worry. The doctors, who have been closely monitoring the cases at Covid hospitals, were of the view that keeping economic and other aspects aside, lockdown relaxation has led to huge congregations at various places with which the conditions for transmission could not be controlled.

Dr Alladi Mohan, the Head of General Medicine department in SVIMS, who monitors the treatment at the state Covid hospital told The Hans India that with physical distancing was not being followed and no proper use of masks, the chance of exposure to the virus has increased. The more exposure in less than one-metre distance, the more increase would be the viral load being inhaled.

To a question, he said, initially the elderly people with comorbidities were more prone to death. But now, the prevalence among people in the less than 60 age group was more as they were taking more viral load. For various reasons, the elders were staying back at homes while the youngsters used to get more exposure.

Also, the stigma being labelled as Covid has been making youth to hide the disease and rushing to healthcare only when the symptoms have intensified. This is posing a serious threat to them.

"The increased opportunity for intense transmission during the unlock period combined with not revealing the disease out of stigma and ignoring physical distancing and other norms particularly by youngsters might be the major contributing factors for increasing deaths," he maintained.

The fact is that, unless physical distancing, clean hands and use of face mask are strictly followed, virus transmission cannot be interrupted. Also, the virus strain might be undergoing mutation, though for now it's only a hypothesis. "Comorbid conditions also were playing a key role in fatalities. The non-availability of treatment to control the comorbid conditions also could be one of the factors responsible for increasing deaths," he observed.