"By the time we got the patient, the deadly bacteria had already infected him severely. The organisms had already entered the soft tissues through the breach in the skin. Despite the best of antibiotics and other supportive therapy, he did not survive," Roy said. 📰 Flesh-Eating Bacteria Necrotizing Fasciitis Claims Life of 44-Year-Old Man in Kolkata, Know All About the Rare Infection.
Half of all people taking PCR Covid tests in the eastern port city and its suburbs are returning positive results, marking a “a five-fold jump from the beginning of the month, when only one of 20 tests was positive”, The Times of India reports.
The steep hike comes amid warnings that city-wide lockdowns across the country will “send thousands of migrant workers back to their home villages, some carrying the virus with them”, The Telegraph says.
Tip of the iceberg
India’s outbreaks now account for around 38% of global cases, up from 9% a month ago.
But while increasing case numbers are being reported nationwide, Kolkata is emerging as a new epicentre of the pandemic. A doctor in the city told The Times of India that local laboratories processing coronavirus tests “are reporting a positivity rate of 45% to 55%”.
“The positivity rate has shot up to 50% in our lab. The pressure to test samples is tremendous. But it is good that people are going for the test. How fast we detect and isolate has an impact both on treatment and mortality,” said nuclear cardiologist Alok Roy, chairman of Medica Group of Hospitals.
“In our lab, the positivity currently is about 55%,” said a NICED Kolkata official.
Every major lab in the city started seeing a sharp rise in positive samples in April with the rate going past 20% by the second week, and there has been no stopping after that. “Even during the post-Durga Puja surge last year we would find about 30% samples positive. This time it has crossed the previous year’s record,” said Chaudhuri.
A Covid patient being wheeled into Medical College on Wednesday
KOLKATA: Covid symptoms have been milder and undergone subtle changes during the second wave along with a much higher transmission rate, often making it difficult to identify the virus, according to doctors in Kolkata.
While cough, cold and fever had been the most common symptoms during the first wave, weakness, body ache and mild diarrhoea have been more frequent this time.
The reason could be that more younger people with stronger immunity have been affected resulting in non-lung symptoms, they said.
“While the virus is more transmissible this time with a lower mortality rate, there has been a paradigm shift in the mean age of the affected population from 59-60 last time to less than 45 now. Being more mobile, the younger population has been affected but due to their stronger immunity, the virus is often not being able to penetrate the lungs. So the non-lung portions are being affected, resulting in symptoms