Some Chhattisgarh tribal districts see high positivity in this wave

India’s second Covid-19 wave has engulfed even the remote rural and tribal areas, which had bucked the pandemic in 2020.

The tribal-dominated rural states of Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand, which had been reporting fewer cases than urbanised states, have suddenly witnessed a sharp increase in cases. The most worrying trend of the second wave has been the spread of Covid-19 to tribal districts where providing routine healthcare services has always remained a challenge. On Wednesday, Chhattisgarh’s overall positivity rate was 30.63%, which was higher than Maharashtra’s 24.34%. Maharashtra has been the worst-hit by Covid-19. Raipur district has reported the highest positivity of 64.29%.

However, what has the state administration worried is the spread in tribal districts, especially Naxal-affected districts. Till March-end the positivity reported from these districts had been under 5%. However, this week as the state has intensified Covid testing, the positivity has also increased to over 10% in most tribal-dominated districts. Sarguja has reported 7.68% positivity, Korea 10.89%, Rajnandgaon 12.65%, Dantewada 16.30%, Kanker 11.48%, Kondagaon 12.65%, Jashpur 42.75% positivity.

Bastar at 5.6% and Sukma 1.1% remain within manageable limits. Speaking to ET, Chhattisgarh health minister T S Singh Deo attributed the increase in positivity to aggressive testing and people moving from urban centres to the villages. “It is a challenge when the virus spreads to the remote areas. The main reason is testing. We are testing more and are able to trace the people. It is also because of movement of people from our urban centres back to the villages,” he said. On March 17, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had warned the states of spread of Corona virus to the villages. He had said if Tier 2 and Tier 3 cities are affected, the virus could spread to villages and it would strain our healthcare system.

In Jharkhand, another tribal-dominated state, the tribal districts are also reporting a similar increase in positivity. The overall positivity in the state is 18%. Districts have also reported presence of UK variant and double mutant variant. A Jharkhand health department official “told ET, “The spread in remote districts is being linked to the new strains of virus.” Out of 52 samples sent for genome sequencing, nine were found to have UK variant and four with the double mutant. East Singhbhum district reported one positive for UK variant and one for double mutant strain.