Covid-19's second wave effect on rural India

In large cities throughout India, daily COVID-19 cases are decreasing. But outside India’s dense urban centers the second wave is still battering the rural regions where two-thirds of the country’s population live.

Hyderabad: While the deadly second wave of Covid subsides in urban areas in India, it continues to wreak havoc in the country's rural areas. Lack of government aid and availability of health infrastructure has hit rural areas with two-third of the country's population.

Statistics show that rural India bore the brunt of second wave with a higher number of cases and deaths. Upon analysis, it was found that 53% of cases were reported from rural areas and 52% of total death count in April. Across the country, the cases reported in rural areas witnessed an uptick of 20% from April. In Maharashtra, for instance, 61% of the cases in the month of May were from rural districts as opposed to the urban count of 39%.

Covid in rural India

In large cities throughout India, daily COVID-19 cases are decreasing. But outside India’s dense urban centers the second wave is still battering the rural regions where two-thirds of the country’s population live. In April, rural areas of India accounted for 53% of total new cases and 52% of the total death count. In Maharashtra, for instance, 61% of the cases in the month of May came from rural districts as opposed to the urban 39%. Nationwide, the rural cases had jumped almost 20% from April. In Uttar Pradesh, 68% came from rural districts, up from 57% in April. In Odisha, 85% of the cases came from rural districts.

Challenges in rural India

The pall of fear descended among India's rural population triggered by lockdown and loss of livelihood. The nation witnessed reverse migration with limited monitoring and testing systems, aggravating the Covid situation. Reports also said there is a higher number of unreported deaths in rural India and burials in fields.

Moreover, Primary Health Centres, the grassroots level health care set up in the country turn futile with the shortage of doctors and staff and essential medicines, reports said.

Madhya Pradesh

Data showed that around 26,000 people tested Covid positive, indicating a positivity rate of 17.3 percent, which is not far behind the state’s overall figure of 23% as of April 27. These rural patients constitute about 14 percent of the total 189,055 new cases reported in Madhya Pradesh between April 5 and 25, reports said.

Rajasthan

According to the medical health and family welfare report, about 40 percent of the total cases were reported from rural areas in Rajasthan. One of the reasons cited for the rural surge is the heavy tourist footfall in the first quarter of 2021. The other reason is trade connections with states like Maharashtra and Gujarat, which witnessed a sudden spike in cases, and the movement of migrant workers.

Uttar Pradesh

Health department data showed that about 29 percent of the 170,059 active cases on April 17 were reported from the 18 districts that voted in the first phase polls on April 15. There were also reports of deaths allegedly due to oxygen shortages in the state. Several other districts and villages in Uttar Pradesh have also reported lack of beds. Reports also raised speculation that panchayat polls held between April 15 and 29 have led to the spread of Covid cases in rural Uttar Pradesh.

Chhattisgarh

Chattisgarh reels under lack of health care professionals. Reportedly, there are seven ventilators in Kabirdham district hospital, but there are no doctors. According to government data, the district hospital should have 49 specialist doctors, but it has only seven. There is also an acute shortage of nurses and lab technicians.

West Bengal

West Bengal’s Bolpur block in Birbum district reported 15 Covid-19 cases in March. In April, the cases shot up to 617. The block, where 90% of people live in rural areas, earlier reported 160 and 170 infections in October and November during the Covid peak.

Bihar

Bhagalpur district in the eastern state of Bihar was also severely hit. It recorded 26 percent increase in its caseload since 20 April, and the number of deaths increased by 33 percent in the same period.

Aurangabad district recorded more than 5,000 cases since 5 April, and six people died in the same period, according to official data. There are also speculations that due to lack of testing in small towns and cities, the actual data is not revealed. Many reportedly die without getting tested and it is not enlisted in the data.

Telangana and Andhra Pradesh

As per media reports, there are more than 39.6 lakh people in rural areas infected with COVID-19 in the second wave. The number of cases is comparatively higher than the number of cases during the first wave. The younger population in rural areas is much more affected. The majority of people below 45 years are asymptomatic resulting in the high spread of the infection, as per reports.

The lack of vaccination facilities in rural areas is also a major concern. There is a scarcity of vaccines in the interior areas. Various risk factors driving deaths and disability in Andhra Pradesh are malnutrition, dietary risks, high blood pressure, air pollution, occupational risks, etc., with malnutrition topping the chart, as per reports.

Tamil Nadu

Lack of awareness in the rural areas coupled with the people not wearing masks and not undergoing tests is the major reason for the spike in cases. Several villages in several areas of Anamalai, Karmadai, Pollachi, Annur and Sullur in Coimbatore district have witnessed a sudden surge in fresh cases and several are turning fatal, reports said.

State governments' measures to curb Covid

In Kerala, panchayat level war rooms have been set up to contain COVID-19 in rural areas. The local self-governing bodies have been collaborating with volunteers, neighbourhood youth groups and have adopted a decentralised disaster governance structure.

The Odisha Government announced the conduct of house-to-house surveys on COVID-19 symptoms and comorbidities in rural areas with the help of Accredited Social Health Activists (ASHA) and Anganwadi workers.

Rajasthan has recently reported an increase in coronavirus cases from 30% to 40% in rural areas, and the government issued a new standard operating procedure (SOP) for containment and management of cases in the affected areas. It has adopted a multi-pronged approach led by gram panchayats where school teachers, women’s groups, self-help groups (SHGs), and ICDS staff are involved to fight the pandemic.

In Punjab, the Chief Minister has launched the corona free village drive program ‘Corona Mukt Pind Abhiyaan’, to limit the spread of COVID-19 in villages. In Himachal Pradesh, the Chief Minister interacted with elected representatives of Panchayati Raj institutions and told them to ensure that people are following the standard operating procedures (SOPs).

In Tamil Nadu, war rooms have been created under district administration to effectively coordinate and address all COVID-19 related issues in rural areas. It is to be mentioned that Coimbatore is the only district in Tamil Nadu to have created panchayat level Covid Care Centres (PLCCC) to tackle COVID-19 in rural areas. The State government has decided to conduct innovative awareness camps with the help of the local elected representatives and promote vaccination in rural areas.