After affecting big cities, COVID is now hitting India’s rural areas hard

After affecting India’s urban areas, the second wave of Covid-19 is now spreading fast in rural areas. India Today tracked some rural areas in the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana to find out what the ground reality is.

Maharashtra
The pandemic has taken firm root in rural Maharashtra. For example, the rural areas of Amravati district are now reporting higher number of cases than urban areas.

After affecting India’s urban areas, the second wave of Covid-19 is now spreading fast in rural areas. India Today tracked some rural areas in the states of Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Haryana to find out what the ground reality is.

According to District Collector Shelesh Nawal, Amravati city on Tuesday registered 249 new Covid-19 cases while the rural areas of Amravati registered 947 fresh cases.

Since January, Amravati city has recorded 504 Covid-related deaths while the rural areas of the district have seen 521 deaths.

The new hotspots of Covid in Amravati are Warud, Achalpur, Morshi, Anjangaon Surji and Tiwasa. The district administration is planning to establish Covid care units in these places.

Similarly, Nagpur district is also witnessing a surge in Covid cases in rural areas. On May 5, there were 36,648 active cases in Nagpur city and 29,568 active cases in Nagpur’s rural areas.

According to health officials, in the 14 tehsils that come under Nagpur distric, there are 112 Covid testing centres. This includes Gramin Hospitals and private labs.

The positivity rate in the rural parts of Nagpur is 18.06 per cent at present. However, after strict measures were taken by the administration, the positivity rate is beginning to decline.

Haryana
Titoli village, situated barely 10 kilometers from Haryana’s Rohtak city, is in a state of panic after 40 people reportedly died due to Covid-19 in ten days.

After Sarpanch Suresh Kumar broke the news, representatives of the district administration and health department rushed to the village. The family members of the deceased are now being tested for the virus.

The villagers have claimed that the real death toll is double what the sarpanch has claimed.

Rohtak sub-divisional magistrate Rakesh Saini said, “People are scared after the deaths in the village. We are encouraging them to get tested for Covid. It will then be clearer whether the deceased were Covid-positive or not.”

Uttar Pradesh
In the large industrial town of Kanpur, there has been a massive spike in Covid-19 cases. On May 5, the city registered a record 67 Covid deaths in 24 hours. However, there are no records from the rural areas. Officials denied access to data from the Kanpur Rural area.

Gujarat
The Gujarat government has imposed night curfew in 36 cities. While the administration is trying to break the chain of transmission in cities, the situation in the villages is terrifying.

There is a severe shortage of doctors and medical personnel in the rural areas of Gujarat.

In the last 20 days, 90 people have allegedly died of Covid-19 in Chogath, a village in Bhavnagar district. This is according to Girjashankar, a retired teacher who performs last rites at the crematorium in the village.

In this village, there is a lack of awareness about Covid-19. Health facilities too are inadequate to deal with the pandemic. India Today