Northeast states managing Covid best, followed by Bihar and UP: SBI study

Daily cases declining after peak of September 16 and recovery higher than new cases at all India level

The North-eastern states have topped the list of states in managing Covid-19 followed by Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, according to a study conducted by SBI Research. Northeast was combined into one.  

Rajasthan, Maharashtra and Himachal Pradesh, on the other hand, are at the bottom of the list.

As far as the entire country is concerned, the estimated number of infections is 9,929,000 which is 466,000 higher than the 9,463,000 confirmed cases. This indicated that India has done a fairly good job on controlling the spread of the virus, said author of the report and SBI group chief economic advisor Soumya Kanti Ghosh.

The Covid graph has improved significantly after the peak reached on September 16. 

"The daily new cases have declined since then and are now moving around 35,000, while the daily recoveries are higher than new cases," Ghosh said. 

The study also ranked states on two more parameters -- macro including fiscal deficit and consumer price inflation and performance of states on the central government schemes. 

The northeast topped the list in the macro economic parameters as well, followed by Himachal Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Bihar, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal were at the bottom. 

Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat and Maharashtra were at the top on performance in the Centre's schemes, while Goa, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh were the most laggard. Five schemes were taken into account for this yardstick --one nation one ration card, PM Svanidhi, PM Samman, emergency credit linked guarantee scheme and PM Awas Yojana. 

Combining all the schemes, the Northeast topped the list followed by Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. Chhattisgarh, West Bengal and Himachal Pradesh came at the bottom. While Chhattisgarh and West Bengal fared consistently poorly in all 3 parameters, Himachal Pradesh did quite well in macro management but lagged in implementation of the Central schemes and COVID Management.  End 

In fact, the hilly and unfamiliar terrain of Himachal Pradesh is holding back the recovery rate and that is acting as a huge deterrent to Covid Management. Regarding implementation of Central schemes, again the nature of the state in terms of inhospitable terrain may be acting as a deterrent, the study said.