NAGPUR: Hit hard in the first and second waves, today Vidarbha is probably the safest region in the state in Covid-19 pandemic. Three months after the end of second wave, the number of active cases in 11 districts of the region is less than 1% of the total active cases of the state.
The state’s public health department on Wednesday released monthly report highlighting exact position of the pandemic in the state. There were 51,238 active cases in the state as on August 31.
Among 35 districts in the state, Pune district had highest active cases at 13,515. Total 17 districts had less than 100 cases, including 10 districts from Vidarbha.
Gondia has the lowest figure among 35 districts with just two active cases followed by Wardha at third place with five active cases, Bhandara 4th (7 cases), Washim 5th (8 cases), Yavatmal 6th (8 cases), Akola 8th (20 cases), Gadchiroli 11th (32 cases), Buldhana 13th (44 cases), Nagpur 16th (70 cases) and Amravati 17th (95 active cases). Only Chandrapur district has more than 100 active cases. Exact number of active cases is 178. Thus, active cases in 11 districts was 469, which is 0.91% of total active cases of the state.
Vidarbha was the first to face the highly contagious and virulent second wave. In first week of June, the second wave came to an end. After that the situation is improving with every passing month.
Among 35 districts, Ahmednagar has the highest weekly growth rate of 0.24%. Seven districts of the region, including Nagpur, have zero weekly growth rate. Amravati, Buldhana, Chandrapur and Gadchiroli are on 19th, 20th, 21st and 22nd place with 0.1% weekly growth rate.
At the end of July, five districts; Nagpur, Yavatmal, Wardha, Bhandara and Gondia, had 0% weekly growth rate. Five districts were at 0.1%; Amravati, Akola, Washim, Buldhana and Chandrapur, while Gadchiroli was at 0.2%.
As far as weekly test positivity rate (TPR) is concerned, Pune district recorded highest 6.15% among 35 districts. Weekly TPR of nine districts of the region including Nagpur is below 1%. Weekly TPR of Nagpur district was 0.17% as on August 31.
Buldhana has highest weekly TPR of 1.44% among 11 districts of Vidarbha but was on 15th position among 35 districts in the state. Washim’s weekly TPR was 1.05%. Wardha district had second lowest weekly TPR of 0.05% in the state.
At the end of July, weekly TPR of Nagpur district was 0.19%, which is another indicator of the improving situation. At that time also, weekly TPR of nine districts was below 1%. Akola was on 18th place with 1.37% weekly TPR and Gadchiroli had 1.09%.
Despite few cases and zero weekly growth rate, Nagpur district is fifth among 35 districts as far as number of tests is concerned. Total 5,59,556 tests were conducted as per 10 lakh population. At the end of July, Nagpur district was on second position with 5,33,644 tests per 10 lakh population.
In vaccination, performance of Nagpur district declined to some extent compared to other districts. Nagpur was at eighth place among 35 districts in the state with first dose given to 9,48,239 people, which is 59.95% of total eligible people above 45 years at the end of July. Gondia was at fourth position with 2,89,133 people (66.42%) and Bhandara at seventh place with 2,31,105 people (60.89%). Highest was Kolhapur with 9,45,948 (74.28%).
In the age group of 18-44, Gondia was at third position with first dose of 1,59,991 people (24.83%) and Nagpur was at fourth place with 5,76,969 people (24.64%) vaccinated.
As on August 31, Nagpur has slipped to ninth position and Gondia to sixth in 45-plus category. Bhandra has improved to third place.
In 18-44 years age group, Nagpur continued at fourth position, Bhandara improved to third from fifth and Gondia to fifth place.
