Comparative analysis and epidemiological study of SARS-CoV-2 in first wave among different states of India

Abstract

Abstract Over the past few years, Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome Coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) has shown a global spread. While various governments and medical organizations are still attempting to control the disease's spread to overcome the global health crisis, the development of vaccines has also contributed in decelerating the spread. India has been among the top death-toll nations caused due to SARS-CoV-2. Among the global data, India was found to be the third country with the highest mortality cases of 157 thousand, and Maharashtrawas having the most higher number of mortality cases followed by Tamil Nadu and others. Retrospective study on data from 28 Indian states and 8 Union Territories (UTs) provided a detailed look at the transmission pathways and case fatality rate (CFR) of the SARS-CoV-2. The percent distribution of CFR calculated in each geographical zone of India i.e. Central, Eastern, North Eastern and Northern, Southern and Western zone was 17%, 14%, 7%, 22%, 12%, and 28%, respectively. The CFR was significantly (P<0.01) higher in period II comprising April to June of the year 2020. We calculated the CFR for every month using a standard formula and noted that the CFR varied significantly across different times of year (P<0.01). Moreover, CFR was also evaluated spatially across different geographical zones in India. We observed that western zone showed the highest CFR as compared to other zones. The epidemiology of SARS-CoV-2 was evaluated in patients of various ages and co-morbidities. Patients >21 years had the highest age-specific positivity rate. The prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 patients in acute and chronic diseases was 12.87 and 87.13 percent, respectively. Thus, this analytical epidemiological study serves specifically in establishing a relationship between SARS-CoV-2 infection and other precipitating factors causing morbidity and mortality during the given time frame in the first wave, in the year 2020 (Jan-Dec, 2020).