Case Fatality Rate declines, but many districts rate poorly

Dharwad, Bidar, and DK figure among districts at the bottom of the table

Even though many districts in Karnataka had managed to reduce their Case Fatality Rate (CFR) in the COVID-19 pandemic over a period of four weeks ending September 5, they not only continued to remain behind the national average of 1.72%, but had also fared poorly among the districts of the country’s mega States.

Dharwad, Bidar and Dakshina Kannada figured among the districts at the bottom of the table of 217 with a CFR of 2.86%, 2.85% and 2.72% respectively, taking the 199th, 197th and 192nd positions. Their CFR on August 8 was 3.2%, 3.3% and 3%, respectively.

Faring slightly better were Mysuru, Tumakuru and Haveri with a CFR of 2.32%, 2.3% and 2.28%, taking the 175th, 174th and 168th positions on the table. Their CFR on August 8 was 3.3%, 2.8% and 1.9%, respectively.

These six districts along with Hassan, Koppal, Davangere and Kalaburagi with a CFR of 2.1%, 1.94%, 1.94% and 1.75% are among the 10 districts of Karnataka with a CFR higher than the national average of 1.72%.

This is part of the analysis of carried out by Jeevan Raksha, an initiative of Proxima, a management consulting firm, in 217 districts of the country’s mega States comprising Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, Gujarat, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu and Kashmir, Karnataka, Kerala, Maharashtra, Punjab, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal, which had reported a minimum of 1,000 cases.

“We have classified the States into three categories – Mega States, Empowered Action Group (EAG) States, Micro States and Union Territories for more clarity. For instance, the trend in Tamil Nadu can be compared with Maharashtra or Karnataka, but not with Mizoram and Manipur as the demographics are different,” said Mysore Sanjeev, convener of Jeevan Raksha. Mega cities including Ahmedabad, Bengaluru, Chennai, Kolkata and Mumbai are also excluded from the study.

At the top of the table is Mahendragarh in Haryana with a CFR or 0.049% followed by six districts of Kerala – Kottayam, Pathanamthitta, Palakkad, Idukki, Alappuzha and Mallapuram. So much so, a total of seven districts including Wayanad figure among the top 10 districts in the table with a CFR ranging from 0.064% to 0.3%.

At the bottom of the table, however, is Punjab’s Kapurthala with a CFR or 4.61%, Ludhiana and Amritsar with a CFR of 4.15% and 4.11% respectively.

Though the decline in CFR in many districts of Karnataka was attributed to the marked rise in the number of positive cases during the four-week period, Mr. Sanjeev sought to throw light on the inadequate medical infrastructure.