Fight against Coronavirus: Maharashtra, Gujarat and West Bengal are Cause of Concern

Almost half of the total numbers of districts in India are now free from any Coronavirus infection. States like Goa, Manipur, Tripura and Arunachal are Corona free. This is really good news for the whole country. Economic activities in these areas can slowly be resumed in a staggered manner. But as per data, the situation in West Bengal in front of testing is a cause of concern for the whole country. Testing in West Bengal is among the lowest in India, considering the population and comparatively has very high confirmed cases in comparison to other states. Still as per news reports, the state government of West Bengal seems little serious about the severity of the situation.

With only 10893 tests, West Bengal has 649 confirmed cases. While on the other hand Odisha with 25103 tests has only 110 confirmed cases. It says a lot. The increase in the testing West Bengal is expected to increase the daily numbers sharply for the state and the nation. The West Bengal government should work in this direction and take all the possible help from the centre to contain it rather than politicizing the matter. Similarly the situation in Gujarat as well as Maharashtra is not good. Recovery rate is very low in Gujarat and new cases are increasing at a far higher rate than the national average in Maharashtra. These three states are really causes of concern for the whole nation.

However, there is possible news that the number of confirmed cases are doubling in more than 10 days. If it had doubled every third day, today India would have an astonishing number that would have been more 1.7 million. So Until now, lockdown has been working well for India. Total confirmed cases/total tests is increasing but 10 days moving average suggests that now a downtrend is expected in India. We can hope that the numbers of daily confirmed cases will also have a downward trend.

Although amid all negative reports, there is a positive report that nature has started rejuvenating itself. The pollution levels across the globe are down; rivers are becoming clean. There are reports which suggest that Ganga and Yamuna are now flowing clean water! However amidst continuing lockdown it can be a reason to smile if not to celebrate!

Rajeev Upadhyay