COVID-19: Cases from 10 cities account for over 50% of India's tally
Of the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country, as on March 28, ten cities reported more than 50 per cent of them.
Of the total number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the country, as on March 28, ten cities reported more than 50 per cent of them.
Cities including Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, Indore, Jaipur, Thane, New Delhi, Chennai, Surat, and Hyderabad have registered 14,551 COVID-19 cases, accounting for 51.3 per cent of the total 28,380 in India.
These cities have also reported the most number of COVID-19-linked deaths. Of the total 886 deaths in the country due to the novel coronavirus outbreak, about 562 or 63.5 per cent deaths were reported from these cities.
Among these Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Pune, and Indore had more than a thousand cases each. Mumbai being the worst-hit has reported 5,768 cases and 219 deaths, followed by Ahmedabad (2,378 cases and 109 deaths), Pune (1,212 cases and 80 deaths) and Indore (1,207 cases and 7 deaths).
Six other cities – Jaipur, Thane, New Delhi, Chennai, Surat, and Hyderabad – have 3,986 cases and 95 deaths in total. Delhi figures include cases reported only under New Delhi Municipal Corporation of 742 cases and one death.
However, considering the R0 (reproduction rate or rate of infection), Ahmedabad has the highest R0 of 3.31 which means that the virus spreads the fastest here than any other city.
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According to Pracriti, a database created by IIT Delhi, the second place where the infections spread relatively faster is Indore (2.58), followed by Thane (2.07), and Pune (1.80).
Even as Mumbai has the highest number of cases, its R0 (1.39) is comparatively lower than the other cities.
Chennai has the highest number of government health facilities with 861 (PHC, CHC and district hospitals) among these heavy load cites. It is followed by 697 in Pune and 470 in Jaipur. Mumbai has 120 such facilities while New Delhi has 89 of them.
Maharashtra which has three of its cities in the list, accounted for 7,732 cases and 314 deaths while Gujarat with two cities in the list reported 2,934 cases and 128 deaths.
Taking to Twitter, Amitabh Kant, NITI Aayog chief said, “We must win in these districts. Our ability to completely flatten the curve depends on our rapid success in these districts.”
*The figures reported by only municipal corporations are considered for the analysis.