Chennai ahead of Bengaluru in virus fight

Chennai ahead of Bengaluru in virus fight

Study says difference between the two cities in managing the pandemic’s second wave is stark

30/05/2021

The battle is on: Municipal workers waiting to get vaccinated at a school in Bengaluru.AP

Laiqh A. Khan

The two mega cities of south India — Bengaluru and Chennai — may be separated by barely 350 km from each other, but the difference in COVID-19 mortality between the two cities, particularly in the second wave, has been quite stark.

During the 90-day period between February 25 and May 25 this year, Bengaluru Urban recorded 7,397 COVID-19 deaths while Chennai registered 2,401, which is only about a third of the cases in country’s IT capital. This, despite the Tamil Nadu Assembly polls held on April 6.

According to a comparative analysis carried out by Project Jeevan Raksha, a public-private initiative by Proxima, a management consulting firm, with technical support and guidance of the Public Health Foundation of India (PHFI), Bengaluru also added positive cases and active cases at a faster pace than Chennai.

If the total positive cases in Bengaluru raced to 11,31,496 on May 25 from 4,04,628 on February 5, at a scorching moving growth rate of 180%, Chennai’s total cases reached 4,87,691 on May 25 from 2,35,005 on February 25, at a moving growth rate of 108%.

Active cases in Bengaluru went up to 2,19,551 on May 25 from 3,887 on February 25, while the corresponding numbers for Chennai were 47,553 on May 25 and 1,780 on February 25.

One year ago, on May 25, 2020, the number of people dying due to COVID-19 in Bengaluru was 10 while in Chennai 87 had died, recalled convenor of Jeevan Raksha Mysore, Sanjeev. But, a year later, 11,863 people had died in Bengaluru urban while in Chennai the figure stood at 6,546. He said Bengaluru compared with Chennai in terms of “population and ecosystem”.

Infrastructure in place

Citing the reasons for difference in pandemic management in the two cities, Mr. Sanjeev said the Tamil Nadu government had recognised that critical medical infrastructure and resources were needed and equipped the city to manage the surge. Also, Tamil Nadu is the only State in India to stick to 100% RT-PCR, the gold standard for COVID-19 testing, ensuring both “quantitative” as well as “qualitative” testing in Chennai. But in Bengaluru, the number of tests were reduced when the cases surged, he pointed out.

“Our study has indicated that one in every five persons who died due to COVID-19 in Bengaluru Urban succumbed on the day of hospitalisation itself,” Mr Sanjeev said, adding that fear of exorbitant hospitalisation charges was pushing people to delay treatment.

“Another major issue in Bengaluru is the interference and highhandedness of local politicians in the administration,” said Mr. Sanjeev.