Life triumphed in Vadodara city amid lockdown: Survey

Vadodara: While the effectiveness of the lockdown to prevent spread of Covid-19 may be debated, details gathered by the Vadodara Municipal Corporation (VMC) reveal that it did save lives even if these were not necessarily related to Covid-19.
As a part of its efforts to keep track of Covid-19 cases and deaths, the administration had taken the decision of monitoring daily deaths in the city. This was done by taking daily reports from crematoriums and burial grounds in the city.
“We wanted to see if there is any trend of undetected Covid-19 deaths. Interestingly, we have seen an actual decline in total number of deaths for Vadodara in 2020 in the months of March, April, May and June when compared to 2018 and 2019,” said officer on special duty for Vadodara for Covid-19.
While the reason for the decline would need a detailed study, sources said that fatal accidents and mishaps of various kinds had gone down significantly during the lockdown. With lesser anxiety and tension related to work, studies as well as exam and issues, deaths due to stress-related ailments may also have come down, the officer opined.
Sources said that since people were not eating out and staying less outdoors in general, they did not contact several other infections. The period also saw lesser prevalence of vector and water-borne diseases.
An official in the civic body said that a minor part in the fall in last rites could also be that bodies of many who died outside Vadodara may not have been brought to the city due to the lockdown.