Covid-19 spreading fast in rural Vid, may intensify after migrants return

Nagpur: In last few days, confirmed positive cases of Covid-19 are being reported from villages in Amravati, Akola, Buldhana and Yavatmal districts of Vidarbha. In Nagpur division, 1 case is reported from a village in Bhandara district and 2 in rural Nagpur. With this, it can be confirmed that the novel coronavirus has now entered in rural Vidarbha.
Contact tracing, quarantining, and isolation in rural area is comparatively difficult for the administration. Hence, more cases from villages will be a danger sign for the region. TOI has carried a projection report of Covid-19 cases in Vidarbha on April 27. As per that projection, Vidarbha is set to witness 75,801 cases and more than 24,000 of these will come from rural Vidarbha.
As the lockdown 3.0 is offering several relaxations on travel restrictions, villages are set to receive a crowd of returning immigrants in coming days. This may increase the number of patients coming to rural areas.
Rural spread was first noticed on April 3 in Washim when a 61-year-old man from Medshi village in the district was tested positive for covid-19. This man was having a contact history of single source. While tracing his contacts, administration found eight other men who came into contact this patient. They were from different villages in Buldhana district and this confirmed rural spread of covid-19 in Buldhana. But, effective management by the administration successfully put limits on this chain. Today, Buldhana has only 3 active cases, and most rural patients have recovered and discharged.
A major rural chain has been reported in Akola this week when patients were traced in Antri village in Balapur tehsil, Pinjar village from Barshi Takli tehsil, and Ugwa village adjacent to Akola. Chain of rural patients in Amravati is more dangerous because it has reported one death in Shirala village of Chandur Bazar tehsil. Another chain has started in Warud where a woman and her two close contacts have already been tested positive. Further contact tracing is still on in Akola and Amravati as well.
Rural spread in Yavatmal is comparatively new. First case was found in Ner, 30 kms away from the district headquarters. The patient has came into close contact of earlier positive patients who were from single source. District administration has sealed the locality and contact tracing is on.
Cases are being reported from rural areas in Nagpur division too. Bhandara’s first and only case is from remote village Garada, near Daodipar in Lakhni tehsil. More than 175 contacts from this village have already been tested and found negative so far. In Nagpur rural, cases from Kamptee and Kanhan were reported, and both recovered.
Interesting fact about rural cases is good recovery rate. Almost all patients from rural Akola and Buldhana have already been recovered and discharged. Same has happened in Nagpur too. Patient from Washim took 21 days to recover but was finally discharged on April 23.