India's Covid-19 Map: Southern Zone Has Maximum Cases, West Tops in Mortality Rate

India had recorded 51,22,846 Covid-19 cases by the afternoon of September 17, of which nearly 79% had recovered. A total of 6.1 crore had been tested and 83,257 deaths were reported. The Mortality Rate stood at 1.6% while the Test Positivity Rate at 8.5%. A zone-wise analysis of the country’s Covid-19 data throws up some interesting numbers.

We divide the country into five zones:

1. North – Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Haryana, Punjab, Jammu and Kashmir, Uttarakhand, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh and Ladakh

2. South – Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Telangana, Kerala, Puducherry, Andaman and Nicobar Islands

3. West – Maharashtra, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Goa, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Daman and Diu

4. East – West Bengal, Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam, Sikkim, Manipur, Tripura, Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Meghalaya, Odisha

5. Central – Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh

SOUTH ZONE HAS MAXIMUM CASLOAD

The South Zone of the country accounts for 37.19% of India’s total caseload. Andhra Pradesh leads the pack with 5,92,760 cases and is followed by Tamil Nadu (5,19,860). Even in terms of cases per 1 million population, the South with 7,056 cases is at the top.

The North and East Zones have done comparatively well even with a massive population of 33.67 crore and 34.78 crore respectively. With a fourth of the population each, they have barely contributed to 17% and 16% of the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country. Meanwhile, the Central Zone comprising of the two states of Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh has the lowest Incidence per million. Maharashtra accounts for more than four-fifth (82%) of the cases in the West Zone.

In terms of Recovery Rate, it is the Central Zone which has the lowest percentage of 63%. A little more than half of Chhattisgarh’s cases are still active. South and East Zones have the best Recovery Rate of 83%. Bihar (East Zone), at 91.2%, has the highest recovery percentage amongst all major states and is followed by Tamil Nadu (89.4%; South Zone) and West Bengal (86.7%; East).

WEST ZONE HAS HIGHEST POSITIVITY RATE

The southern Indian states have collectively carried out the maximum testing in proportion to their population. Overall, South Zone has tested 72,692 samples per 1 million population and is followed by North (45,619), East (45,090) and West (44,665) all stacked together. Madhya Pradesh (21,100) and Chhattisgarh (29,500) have amongst the lowest tests/million population ratio in the country. Thus, the Central Zone fares the worst on this count.

Maharashtra has the highest Positivity Rate in the country at 20.4%. This basically means that overall, one in every five persons tested in the state is Covid-19 positive. This is a highly alarming number and more than double the National Positivity Rate.

Thus, it is not surprising that the state pulls the entire West Zone’s Positivity Rate up to 11.41% – the maximum amongst all the five zones even though Rajasthan (3.9%) and Gujarat (3.3%) have amongst the lowest Positivity Rates in the country. Goa also has a high Positivity Rate of 11.4% which is approximately equal to the average of the zone.

South Zone also has a high Positivity Rate of 9.71% with Andhra Pradesh (12.3%) and Karnataka (12.2%) being the worst-affected on this parameter. The spread of the virus has been less prevalent in the North and East Zones. Mizoram (2.8%), Bihar and Arunachal Pradesh (3.1%) and Meghalaya (3.5%) are the least affected states in the East Zone while Uttar Pradesh (4.2%) keeps the overall Positivity Rate for North Zone low.

WEST ZONE HAS HIGHEST MORTALITY RATE, EAST LEAST

West Zone has recorded the highest number of Covid-19 deaths in the country and accounts for almost 43% of the total mortality percentage. Maharashtra has the highest toll (30,883) in India with 37% of the total deceased.

Next on the list are Tamil Nadu (8,559), Karnataka (7,536) and Andhra Pradesh (5,105) – the major contributors to South Zone’s mortality numbers. Overall, the South accounts for approximately 28% of the total Covid-19 deaths in the country.

East Zone has done a tremendous job in saving lives during the pandemic reporting just about 20 deaths per million population. Amongst major states, Bihar deserves a special mention with just seven fatalities per one million people.

Central Zone has recorded 22 deaths per million and is followed by North (44) and South (86). West Zone has fared the worst again with 132 deaths per million population. Maharashtra is the most severely affected major state with 256 deaths per 1 million population. In terms of Mortality Rate, East Zone is the only zone which has a Mortality Rate of less than 1%. Mizoram, Nagaland, Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Odisha, Bihar, Manipur, Meghalaya, Sikkim and Jharkhand all have a Mortality Rate of less than 1. West Zone has the highest Mortality Rate of 2.6% with Maharashtra and Gujarat (2.7% each) the worst on this count.