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Covid-19 second wave overwhelms Nagpur, spills over to rural areas
Nagpur district collector Ravindra Thakre says increased testing, social gatherings such as weddings, gram panchayat elections and non compliance to containment measures were behind the rapid rise in Covid-19 cases in the district.
Nagpur recorded over 53,000 Covid-19 cases in April compared to around 50,000 cases registered in the first 10 months during the first wave of the disease last year, demonstrating exactly how the second wave swept the district like a storm, paralysing the health infrastructure and causing several deaths.
The second wave of the infection, primarily driven by the double mutation virus believed to be more virulent, has even engulfed rural areas in the district, deepening the crisis with shortage of hospital beds, oxygen, and life-saving drugs like Remdesivir.
“Now you will find Covid patients in every village in the area. As healthcare is very poor in the area, we refer the mild and the serious cases to government medical college at Nagpur,” says Rajesh Thakare, a social worker from Ramtek village.
Private and government hospitals in rural Nagpur have a combined capacity of 2,100 Covid beds at a time when over 2,000 new cases and 25 deaths are being reported daily in the area as per official health bulletins, overwhelming the rural infrastructure.
Dr Ratan Roy, a well-known physician from Kamptee blames lack of awareness among the rural population as the major problem.
“If a patient tests positive, they start fighting and allege that the reports are false and we are forcefully trying to send patients to Covid care centres and home quarantine,” says Dr Roy.
Their ignorance is also behind the refusal to adhere to Covid-19 appropriate behaviour and submit to timely testing apart from the inability to identify symptoms of the disease, which makes timely treatment difficult.
Divisional commissioner Dr Sanjiv Kumar points out that unlike the behaviour seen during the complete lockdown in the first wave of the disease, people are now congregating in violation of the restrictions and behaving as if the Coronavirus is no longer a threat. “In rural Nagpur, people can be easily spotted in crowded areas without masks or face coverings,” he said.
Kumar however says the situation has improved with the scarcity of hospital beds and oxygen witnessed till last week easing out a bit. “...Now the situation has improved, and we are trying hard to accommodate almost all patients with medicines and oxygen,” he said.
The chief executive officer (CEO) of Nagpur Zilla Parishad, Yogesh Kumbhejkar claimed the district body had tried to ramp up the health infrastructure and recruited nurses on contract basis. The administration was also trying to give a leg-up to the vaccination drive. Besides, ASHA workers were asked to monitor Covid patients under home isolation.
Officials believe the second wave of the disease built up slowly this year with 1,793 positive cases and 51 deaths registered in the district in January at 7.66% monthly positivity rate and 2.84% case fatality rate (CFR). The monthly positivity rate and the CFR further dropped to 1.16 and 5.07% respectively in February, leading to lowering of the guard.
In March, positive cases suddenly jumped to 19,077 with 241 deaths at 1.26% CFR and 16.49% test positivity rate (TPR), indicating a high rate of infection among those tested. The floodgates well and truly opened up in April with 50,447 positive cases and 549 deaths at 24.89% TPR and 1.29% CFR.
Nagpur district collector Ravindra Thakre says increased testing, social gatherings such as weddings, gram panchayat elections and non compliance to containment measures such social distancing and wearing of masks were among the chief reasons for the unprecedented Covid spike seen in Nagpur.
