Spatial analysis of COVID-19 for the state of Uttar Pradesh, India

Abstract

The world is struggling to combat COVID-19 pandemic, which is caused by the SARS-CoV-2 virus. The pandemic has affected millions of people all across the globe since the first case has been reported in the Wuhan city of China in December 2019. India is the second most affected country in the world with more than 8.5 million confirmed cases (as of 10 November 2020) after USA. India is facing an unprecedented crisis due to the pandemic, leading to the Nation’s economy to a near standstill. The share of COVID-19 confirmed cases in six most affected States of India is approximately 60 percent. The analytical research tries to assess the impact of COVID-19 through spatial-statistical analysis for the state of Uttar Pradesh, which is one of the most affected states by COVID-19 in India. The detailed analysis has been carried out at district level. The impact of pandemic is more in regions (or districts), which are either having metropolis or airports along with high population density and growth rate during the last decade. Furthermore, inadequate number of health infrastructure facilities and low number of testing are some of the major factors making the situation worse in India. The spatial-statistical analysis enables to understand the pattern of spreading of disease by identifying the hot-spot areas, perceiving the trend of transmission of disease spatially, and understanding the extent of the pandemic over a period of time.