Health infrastructure in rural areas is also significantly worse compared to urban areas. The analysis classifies districts into five categories based on the proportion of the rural population – entirely urban (under 20% of the rural population), mostly urban (20%-40% rural), mixed (40%-60% rural), mostly rural (60% to 80% rural) and entirely rural (over 80% rural population). It is 2.66% in the 16 ‘entirely urban’ districts to as low as 0.98% in the 357 ‘entirely rural’ districts. Forty-nine ‘entirely urban’ and ‘mostly urban’ districts have reported 39% of India’s Covid-19 cases but a majority 54% of the country’s Covid-19 deaths. For example, in urban areas, 2.6% women and 2.1% men reported diabetes compared to 1.2% women and 1.5% men in rural areas.

Source: Hindustan Times September 13, 2020 15:52 UTC