The actions India did and didn’t take as delta emerged, ultimately saddled its people and the world with a ruthlessly virulent incarnation of the coronavirus, one that challenged vaccines and containment regimes like none before it.
In early 2021, flare-ups in the Indian city of Amravati were the first visible warning that the delta variant was spreading. A devastating path across the world would soon follow.
(Bloomberg) A thick layer of dust and scatterings of dried animal excrement covered the deserted intensive care unit in Amravati, a small city nestled in a far-flung, rural district in central India.
Representative Image
MUMBAI: Covid-19 is raging in the peri-urban and rural areas of many districts in Maharashtra even as cases have dipped or plateaued in cities adjoining them. At least 32% of the state’s daily detections are now coming from rural areas, while some districts are seeing up to 80% deaths from rural parts.
Municipal corporation areas in 17 districts are now recording fewer cases than their neighbouring semi-urban or rural pockets. Nashik, Ahmednagar, Jalgaon, Solapur, Kolhapur, Sangli, Aurangabad, Latur, Nanded, Akola and Amravati have seen cases declining in their corporation areas but surging in rest of the district.
Experts say a similar trend was seen in the first wave: cases started with cities, then travelled to tier-II cities and semi-urban areas before reaching villages.