The civic administration and health machinery appear to have concentrated on the urban population, for controlling COVID19 spread. For the last more than a week, the number of positive patients and deaths from rural areas are increasing. This includes the number of positive patients and deaths as well.
As per reports of April 8, 28 out of 73 deaths are from Nagpur rural area. The percentage of positive cases compared to the tests conducted is also high. Out of 9681 tests conducted for rural patients 2628 have been found positive, which is 27.43%. The number of deaths is 28 out of total 73 in the district (38.35%).
There is gradual rise in Corona positive cases in Nagpur rural area. The percentage has gone up from 18.42% on April 1 to 27.43% on April 8. The percentage has been calculated based on tests conducted for rural patients.
It has been observed that the guidelines provided for the people to follow are blatantly violated by people in rural areas. This include use of masks, social distancing, closure of markets, using sanitizer etc. Gatherings at public places of more than five persons are common in rural areas. People also can be seen moving without masks.
The percentage of positive persons from rural area was 20.30% on April 2, 22.79% on April 3, 15.93% on April 4 and 5, 10.79% on April 6 and 23.42% on April 7. The figures in the official report itself indicate spreading of the virus in rural areas.
It is true that a large number of persons from adjoining rural areas visit city everyday for their jobs or business. The strict rules have been imposed by the government and local administration. They are also monitoring violation of the rules and penalising them. However, there appear to be lack of such monitoring in rural areas.
The issue is serious as health facilities in rural areas are not strong enough to handle large number of Corona positive cases. They are required to shift to the city hospitals, which are already crowded.
With imposition of lockdown by the state government, those from rural area also face difficulties in searching for proper hospital – government or private, getting medicines and staying here with the patient for any help. The number of cases is likely to see further hike, if immediate steps are not taken to control spread of the dreaded virus in rural area. Lack of adequate vaccine doses, as reported, is another problem confronting the health machinery.
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