Sitapur, Uttar Pradesh

On April 15, Brajesh Kumar Awasthi woke up feeling feverish with a cough and cold. The 22-year-old took himself off to the nearest Community Health Centre (CHC) at Pisawan, about seven kilometres away. His biggest fear came true as he was found positive for SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19.

“I was advised a fourteen-day home quarantine and prescribed medicines that were not available at the centre. So the following day a team of health officials from the centre visited my home to hand them over,” Awasthi, a resident of Barkherwa village in Sitapur district, told Gaon Connection. His family members were tested too, and found to be negative.

Subsequently there were two more positive cases in Barkherwa village located about 145 kilometres from the state capital Lucknow. That set the alarm bells off and on April 20 a team of health workers from the Pisawan community health centre arrived at the village to conduct the RT-PCR test. The RT-PCR test, which stands for Reverse Transcription Polymerase Chain Reaction, is considered a reliable test to check for the presence of the virus that causes COVID-19.

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According to Anand Yadav, health education officer, Community Health Centre, Pisawan, a total of 152 people were tested in the village (that has an approximate population of 500) the same day of which 40, or every fourth villager screened for the virus, turned out to be COVID positive. Seven of these are above 60 years of age, thus in the high risk category. These 40 COVID patients also include two health workers, a doctor and a lab technician.

“The main roads leading to Barkherwa village have been barricaded,” Yadav told Gaon Connection. He added that arrangements were being made to admit seven of those who tested positive and who were over 60 years of age, into a hospital. “As soon as the district ambulance is available, we will move the seven patients to the hospital,” Yadav said. “The rest of the COVID-19 positive patients have been advised home isolation,” he added. He said a thorough investigation was being carried out at the village.

Barkherwa is just the tip of the iceberg of what lies ahead for rural India, warn public health experts. “What is unfolding in the country is cause for worry,” Yogesh Jain, of Jan Swasthya Abhiyan, an initiative that coordinates activities and actions on health and health care across the country, told Gaon Connection. “There is a very real shortage of health services in rural India. Plenty more has to be done if the existing health services in the villages have to cope with the pandemic,” he added.

All evidence pointed towards a spread of COVID in rural areas where still one can see big gatherings at weddings and other functions, said Jain, a medical doctor. “We are seeing how big cities are not being able to withstand the COVID-19 onslaught… One can’t imagine how rural India will deal with it,” he said.

Also Read: Amid rising COVID19 cases, migrant workers in rural UP anxious about another lockdown

India is facing a massive second wave of COVID19 pandemic. Yesterday, April 22, over 332,000 fresh corona cases were reported in India along with 2,263 deaths. In Uttar Pradesh, the country’s most populous state, 37,238 fresh cases were reported in the last 24 hours. Lucknow reported 5,682 new cases in the last 24 hours.

“We are still waiting for an ambulance”

Predictably, villagers in Barkherwa are anxious. “It has been a week since people tested positive in the village, and let alone the village, even my home has not been sanitised as per protocol,” Awasthi, the first COVID19 patient of Barkherwa village, pointed out.

However, late last evening (April 22), Sanjay Srivastava, medical officer from Pisawan CHC assured Gaon Connection that most of the medicines had been distributed to the affected villagers, and the rest would be given today, April 23. About the seven senior citizens, who are COVID19 positive and who were to be admitted, he said, “We are still waiting for an ambulance.” He said arrangements were being made to sanitise the village today (April 23).

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However, there is lurking fear in Barkherwa village as many people who worked outside are returning home. The main occupation of the villagers is agriculture with 80 per cent of the inhabitants involved in farming. The rest work outside in other states. “For the past five days, boys who were working in Haryana, Delhi and Uttarakhand have returned to the village,” Deepak Shukla, a resident of Barkherwa told Gaon Connection. When last heard, another 39 people were tested in Barkherwa village. One more woman was found COVID positive.

Meanwhile, the panchayat elections are also underway in Uttar Pradesh and villagers fear that people returning from cities to cast their vote may spread the virus in rural areas.

“The reports from Lucknow hospitals and Bhainsakund [Baikunthdham crematorium] are scary. It is possible that many who have come to vote could have carried the infection and spread it among the villagers,” Manish Dwivedi, a resident of Akadariya Kalan village, under Bakshi Ka Talab tehsil in Lucknow district, had told Gaon Connection on April 19 when the second phase of panchayat elections was underway.

Also Read: UP Panchayat Elections: Villagers terrified city-dwellers will bring home votes and COVID-19

Rising COVID cases in rural India

COVID19 cases seem to be rising in rural parts of the country. 

According to the Barabanki Medical Bulletin for April 20, the district in Uttar Pradesh reported 384 new corona cases that day with total active cases of 2,985. Five days before that, on April 15, the district had reported 307 new cases and total active cases of 1,681. Meanwhile on April 11, the district had reported only 71 new COVID19 cases and a total active cases of 714.

Thus, within a matter of nine days, between April 11 and April 20, daily COVID19 cases jumped from 71 to 384.

Santosh Kumar Singh, incharge of the COVID19 control room in Shahjahanpur district told Gaon Connection that today, April 23, the district has reported 232 new corona cases. So far, 145 people have died due to the virus in the district since the start of the pandemic. “Till three days ago, we were getting 250-300 fresh cases daily. But, yesterday we had about 600 new cases in the district. There has been a big jump in COVID cases in the district,” he said.

According to the district medical bulletin, three days ago, on April 20, Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh reported 312 corona cases. Today, April 23, it has recorded 305 new cases. So far, since the beginning of the pandemic, the district has reported 50 deaths.

Meanwhile, Sitapur district, where Barkherwa village has been barricaded, reported 306 fresh COVID19 cases today. Unnao district has reported 388 fresh cases today and eight deaths on April 23.

With inputs from Virendra Singh in Barabanki, Ramji Mishra in Shahjahanpur, and Brijendra Dubey in Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh.