‘By May, 1-in-2 Covid cases were in rural India’

New Delhi: A new Oxfam India report, that highlights the disproportionate effects of the second wave of Covid-19 across the country, states that by May 2021, one in every two cases was in rural India, and states such as Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan had 75% of their cases in rural areas.

The ‘Inequality Report 2021 — India’s Unequal Healthcare Story’ goes on to state that “India’s particularly disastrous Covid-19 second wave exposed the weakness of the public healthcare system.” Making a strong case for increased investment in health infrastructure, the report highlights that “state governments with higher expenditure on health had lower confirmed cases of Covid-19. States such as Odisha and Goa, with higher expenditure on health also had higher recovery rate from Covid”.

Besides drawing upon various available national data sources and reports, the Oxfam report also shares the findings of a survey carried out towards the end of 2020 by the Delhi-based non-profit organization’s teams. They covered 768 respondents from Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Kerala, Bihar and Odisha who were either suffering from Covid or had recovered from it. The survey found that the percentage of respondents in low-income brackets facing discrimination in the community for being Covid-positive was five times more than those in high-income strata of the society.