Published on May 10, 2021
AHMEDABAD: On Sunday, out of 121 deaths of Covid-19 patients, 56 or 46% of the deaths took place in eight major cities namely Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara, Rajkot, Bhavnagar, Jamnagar, Junagadh, and Gandhinagar whereas 65 or 54% of the deaths were reported in ‘non-urban’ areas according to the public health parlance.
To put the figure in perspective, a month ago on April 9, 35 out of 42 deaths were from urban areas, giving their share in daily mortality at 83%. The phenomenon indicates rise in mortality in non-urban areas along with a rise in positive cases. This is why the state government has aggressively launched a corona-free villages campaign in rural Gujarat.
Analysis of the deaths reveal that in April – the month which saw the highest ever cases and mortality due to coronavirus across Gujarat — the urban areas were driving the growth with 71% of the deaths and 67% of the cases recorded from the eight municipal corporation areas.
“But now the scenario is changing – as the cities are recording a dip in the cases and deaths, there is a relative rise in positivity and mortality in other parts of the state. In May, the non-urban areas’ share has increased to 41% in daily cases and 53% in daily deaths,” said a city-based public health expert.
26% fewer cases in Ahmedabad
Analysis of the districts reveal that the four major districts with urban population – Ahmedabad, Surat, Vadodara and Rajkot – had a mortality rate of 0.8% compared to 1.3% in other districts against the state average of 1% in the past one week,” said a city-based public health expert Analysis of weekly cases and deaths (from April 26 to May 2 and May 3 to 9) also indicate the different trends for Ahmedabad and Surat – considered to be the epicenters of the pandemic – and rest of the state. Both the districts recorded a decline of 26% and 34% respectively in cases and 20% and 44% respectively in deaths. In contrast, Anand
(33.5%), Aravalli (35.7%), Panchmahal (55%), etc. recorded steep rise in cases, and Bhavnagar (40%), Porbandar (200%) Kheda (300%), etc. recorded rise in deaths compared to the previous week.
Parth Shastri Archive 