Uttarakhand: Rise in hill districts' share in COVID-related deaths matter of concern, says SDCF President

Dehradun (Uttarakhand) [India], May 15 (ANI): President of Social Development for Communities Foundation (SDCF) Anoop Nautiyal on Saturday said that it is a matter of concern that the share of nine hill districts in COVID-related deaths in the state is on the rise.
"It is a matter of concern that nine hill districts' share in COVID deaths in Uttarakhand is increasing. From May 1 to May 13, there are 301 deaths in hill districts (18.6 per cent of all death in the state). In comparison, from March 15 to April 30, hill districts had reported a total of 312 death which was 11.9 per cent of all COVID-related deaths in the state," Nautiyal said.
Nautiyal further informed that there are 771 active cases per one lakh people in the state which is seven times more than that of per one lakh people in Uttar Pradesh. He added: "Uttrakhand is seventh in the country and first in north India and among Himalayan states in this respect."
"Second wave of COVID-19 has created a chaos, the state has consistently sustained infection rates of above 20 per cent for the last eight days, while more than 100 patients have been dying every day for the last nine consecutive days," Nautiyal said.
Earlier in a virtual meeting, the state Health Department said a total of 102 children in four districts of the state have been infected with COVID-19, including newborns.
While Rudraprayag district has the maximum number of 44 children who have contracted the infection, Haridwar, Almora, and Udham Singh districts have 14, 4, and 40 children infected with COVID-19 respectively.
According to the Union Health Ministry, there are 79,379 active coronavirus cases in Uttarakhand and 4,426 died due to the deadly disease. (ANI)