Coronavirus: Curious case of India’s hotspots and brightspots

India’s Covid-19 story is typically told at the national or state level. But national trends hide the more granular stories — both good and bad. On the one hand, five districts account for half of the deaths, and on the other, 75 districts have made a remarkable turnaround.

The 10 districts with the highest cases till now are all among India’s million-plus cities. Delhi does not make it to the list because with 11 districts, the average burden of each district is lower than the worst-hit ones. Four districts in Maharashtra are among the worst hit. These are Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Pune and Thane.

Maharashtra is the worst affected state in India due to coronavirus, followed by Gujarat. Two districts of Gujarat — Ahmedabad and Surat — also appear among the 10 districts in India with the highest number of cases. The others are Chennai, Indore, Jaipur and Kolkata. But leaving aside Mumbai and Delhi, a more diverse range of districts have a higher case burden proportionate to their populations, including two districts each in Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan.

Five districts — three among them in Maharashtra — account for over half of all deaths in India. These are Ahmedabad, Mumbai, Mumbai Suburban, Pune and Kolkata. But among districts with at least 20 deaths, some districts in Madhya Pradesh and West Bengal too have an unusually high burden of deaths for their populations.

However, success stories at the district level abound. As of today, 75 districts, which earlier reported confirmed cases, are now reporting zero active cases. This includes 12 districts that had over 10 cases, but have no active cases at the moment, with Kerala leading the pack.

As of today, over 200 districts are yet to report a single case.