Massive outbreak of COVID-19 : Nagpur rural clocks 50,000 cases in just 23 days

After clocking 50,000 positive cases in Nagpur district in a year, the novel coronavirus spread its tentacles so rapidly in the second wave that another 50,000 cases were recorded in just 23 days. This is how the ‘super-spreader’ virus has wreaked havoc in Rural areas of Nagpur. Compared to urban areas, the villagers are far away from health infrastructure.
A top rank officer of Zilla Parishad Nagpur informed that the peak of COVID-19 cases was recorded on July 29, 2020 in Nagpur Rural during the first wave with 1292 cases on a single day. This year, the peak was recorded on April 29 when the district registered 3067 positive cases. Highest number of deaths were recorded on April 22 when 45 persons died while battling with the infection. As per the official data, in January, the district registered 1793 positive cases and 51 deaths with 7.66 per cent monthly positivity rate and 2.84 per cent case fatality rate (CFR). The monthly positivity rate and CFR reduced to 1.16 per cent and 5.07 per cent in February respectively. But the positive cases sharply rose to 2581 and somehow casualty decreased to 30. However, double mutant virus surfaced in the next month and the number of positive cases jumped to 19,077 in March and 241 persons died in the month. The district recorded 1.26 per cent CFR while the positivity rate reached 16.49 per cent, all this changed within a month.
The novel coronavirus spread almost like wild fire in the month of April as the district recorded more than 50,447 positive cases while 549 lives were cut short while battling the infection. The positivity rate climbed to 24.89 per cent with 1.29 per cent CFR. Among the 13 tehsils of Nagpur district, highest 329 and 488 cases were recorded from Nagpur tehsil in January and February. Highest 11 deaths were recorded from Nagpur tehsil in January while Ramtek tehsil registered highest five deaths in February. In April, the highest infection was found in Saoner tehsil with 8,380 cases and 101 deaths.

Why villagers unable to identify infection of COVID-19 initially ?

There are various reasons for the massive outbreak of the virus in the rural areas that include not following COVID-19 appropriate behaviour to late testing. One of the important points that caused the massive outbreak is inability of villages to identify the infection of Covid-19.
As the residents of rural areas were not much aware of the seriousness of the situation of the virus, the villagers were caught off guard. Wearing masks and maintaining social distancing are not properly followed in the rural areas. The State Government imposed curbs last month but the agriculture sector was exempted and this might have led to faster spread of virus.
As the farm labourers are going to fields daily, its difficult for the administration to keep watch on everyone whether they are wearing masks or not. Similarly, the police force is also unable to strictly implement the curbs in the rural areas as villages are scattered. After the outbreak of the virus, the weekly markets were shut down but it's difficult to keep an eagle eye on every locality of rural areas where people can't lock themselves in the houses for even a day.
Similarly, positive patients are not immediately going for the testing in the rural areas and this delay is the main reason for the super spread of virus. Many of the villagers try home remedies for a week and visit the hospital when the virus badly infuses their lungs and they start to face difficulty in breathing. The lack of health infrastructure is also adding fire in the COVID-19 spread. While Nagpur has around 170 hospitals, the Nagpur district holds around 55 hospitals with a very minuscule number of Oxygen beds.

New mutation of virus caused outbreak : ZP CEO Kumbhejkar

Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Zilla Parishad Yogesh Kumbhejkar informed ‘The Hitavada’ that the new mutant virus was one the reason behind the massive outbreak of Covid cases in rural areas. “The ZP has ramped up health infrastructure in the district and many nurses were recruited on the contract basis. Similarly, the ZP administration is trying aggressively to conduct vaccination drives to safeguard the residents. ASHA workers have been tasked to monitor Covid patients who are under home isolation, he said.