Lockdown 4.0 update: TN’s doubling rate reduced in lockdown 3.0, Punjab and Andhra’s more than doubled
States have to decide how to categorise areas in their territories under Red, Orange and Green Zones
Moments after the centre announced a two-week extension to the nationwide lockdown with additional permissions to resume some activity on Sunday evening, Cabinet Secretary Rajeev Gauba held a meeting with the chief secretaries of states and union territories to underscore some key points in India’s progress in the fight against Covid-19, including an increase in the doubling rate of cases in 9 worst affected states during the period of the third lockdown.
According to an official privy to the discussions during the video conference, Gauba pointed out that Gujarat, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Punjab had registered a significant increase in the doubling rate since April 30, just before the beginning of the third phase of lockdown. Punjab had made the most remarkable progress by increasing its doubling rate of the virus from 7.3 days to 29.8 days on May 14, followed by Andhra Pradesh, which had more than doubled its doubling rate of 24.4 days on May 14 compared to 11.7 days on April 30. Uttar Pradesh, too, had made encouraging progress on this front with the doubling rate jumping from 14.6 days to 21.8 days in the same period; the state was closely followed by Gujarat that increased its doubling rate from 9.4 to 15.5 days.
Among the worst-hit states, Maharashtra had made marginal improvement on that count by reaching a doubling rate of 11.6 days from 10 days on April 30, similarly, Delhi and Rajasthan, too, had barely managed to improve their doubling rates by a margin of 1.3 days and 1.7 days from 13.6 and 18 days respectively in the corresponding period.
Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal had fared little better with increased doubling rates of 15.2 and 12.6 days respectively on May 14 as against 11.5 and 9.4 days on April 30.
Tamil Nadu the third-worst affected state in the country was the only one among the top 10 to have reduced its doubling rate in the period. Tamil Nadu’s doubling rate had slipped to 8.4 days as on May 14 from 15.1 on April 30.
The data assumes significance as the categorization of areas into red, orange or green zones in the states are dependent on parameters like active Covid-19 cases, cases per lakh population, doubling and fatality rates. The categorization, in turn will impact how much freedom for economic activity is granted in those zones.
The movement of migrant labourers also came up for discussion between the centre and the states as it has played its part in spreading the infection to far-flung rural areas of the country.
Rajiv Gauba is reported to have requested the state officials to cooperate in the running of more Shramik special trains to facilitate the movement of migrant workers, which has not only led to a political blame game between states but also to tragedies and law and order situations across the country.
