Rural areas see more cases than urban spots

MUMBAI: Maharashtra, which recorded 42,582 new Covid-19 cases on Thursday, is witnessing a surge in cases in the rural parts of the state as compared to urban pockets. Both Covid positivity rate and growth rates have increased in rural areas compared to urban centres.

Take the case of rural parts of Ahmednagar district which reported 2,370 new cases on Thursday, which is 829.41% more compared to cases in the urban parts of the district which stood at 255. Similarly, in Jalgaon, 575 new cases were recorded in rural areas whereas 71 new cases came from urban Jalgaon. Solapur rural saw 1,569 new cases while the urban pockets in the district clocked 125 cases.

The trend is similar for Kolhapur and Sangli districts which recorded 1,144 and 1,229 cases in rural areas and 125 and 234 new cases in the urban areas, respectively.

Dr Subhash Salunke, advisor to the state government on Covid-19 management, said this trend was witnessed even in the first wave of the virus.

“Covid-19 first strikes the urban areas and then slowly spreads to semi-urban and rural pockets,” said Salunke, adding, “There is a huge population living in peripheral areas who come to urban areas for their livelihood. They are the carriers of this virus,” he added.

Dr Wiqar Shaikh, professor of medicine, Grant Medical College and Sir JJ Hospital, blamed the lack of Covid-appropriate behaviour among rural masses for the spread of the virus.

“You hardly see rural people wearing masks or observing social distancing. In addition, they tend to neglect initial signs of Covid-19 symptoms,” said Shaikh.

“Rural health infrastructure is the worst, and we hardly see doctors in many places. These factors aggravate the situation,” he added.

In Ichalkaranji, a private hospital was found using a ventilator meant for government hospital and charging fees from patients. In Nashik, police started bashing those roaming or driving without valid reason. In Satara, the local administration has decided to fine citizens ₹500 for roaming without valid reason.

Currently, Kolhapur is witnessing a high fatality rate of 3.5%. The Covid-19 task force team visited the city to study the situation and suggested a complete ban on home isolation while beefing up testing facilities in this region.

A total of 250,398 tests were conducted across the state on Thursday. The day also saw 54,535 recoveries. The death toll has reached 78,857 with 850 patients succumbing to the virus on Thursday. The total case count in Maharashtra stands at 5,269,292.

On Thursday, there were 533,294 active Covid-19 cases in the state. Pune topped with 101,181 active cases followed by Nagpur with 45,996 active cases. In terms of Covid fatalities, Mumbai leads with 14,040 deaths followed by Pune with 10,232 deaths.