Data | COVID-19 test positivity rate declined faster in urban districts than rural parts in May

A Covid-19 Containment zone at Pandhillapalli Village of Chinthakani Mandal of Khammam district of Telangana. File (Source: The Hindu)

Even as the second wave of COVID-19 cases is on the wane across the country, the decline in the positivity rate (number of positives identified per 100 tests) has not been uniform across the rural and urban districts. While only 27% of urban districts had more than 10% positivity rate by the end of May, 30%-56% of non-urban districts recorded the same. By the end of May, the positivity rate of many rural districts was two to three times more than their capital districts, where most cases were recorded during the pandemic peak.

Positivity analysis

In the first week of May, 87% urban districts had more than 10% positivity rate. By the last week of May, this reduced to 27%. However, 56%, 46% and 30% of semi-urban, semi-rural, and rural districts, respectively, continued to record >10% positivity rate by the end of May.

COVID-19 district wise positivity - June 3 - Table 1

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District data

The chart shows the positivity rate of all rural (blue circles) and urban (yellow plus symbols) districts in the last week of May for select States. Semi-urban and semi-rural districts are not represented in the graph.

COVID-19 district wise positivity - June 3 - Chart 2 

1. In about 10 rural districts of the north-eastern region, the positivity rate exceeded 20%. In Tripura's Dhalai district, it was around 40%.
2. In the rural districts of Bhadrak and Dhenkanal in Odisha, the positivity rate was around 38%. In Rajasthan's Alwar district, it was 33%. Put together, in 10 rural districts from these two States, the positivity was >20%.
3. In Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra, the gap in the positivity rate between the capital district and other districts widened by the end of May. At least 11 rural districts in Karnataka had a higher positivity rate than Bengaluru Urban. At least 13 rural districts each in Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra had a higher positivity rate than Chennai and Mumbai.
4. In J&K and West Bengal, even by the end of May, the capital districts had a higher positivity rate than the rural districts.

Source: Development Data Lab, Union Health Ministry

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