Epidemiology and control strategies of novel coronavirus disease in the context of India

Abstract

An outbreak of\xa0coronavirus\xa0disease (COVID-19) occurred for the first time in Wuhan, China which spread as a pandemic to various countries of the world, resulting in high morbidity and mortality. Death toll in India on 8th February 2021 was 1,55,080. India had implemented steps such as lockdown and advised social distancing, washing of hands, and wearing masks to reduce the burden of Covid-19. This review discusses the epidemiological features, the population at risk and control strategies of novel coronavirus disease in India. The data was collected from various sources on individual details of Covid-19 cases, population density and affluence percentage from the literature studied. The data was used to analyse the susceptibility of the population to this disease. It was found that Indian\xa0males, age group 20 to 40 (based on morbidity) and above 60 (based on mortality) were at high risk. The authors compiled epidemiology, management and control strategies of covid-19 in India. Therefore, because of various early implementations, India has managed the disease well earlier, but in the current scenario (30 Nov 2020) morbidity and mortality have been at peak. Immunization of frontline workers started on 16th January 2021. Initially, 7,017,411 doses of Covishield and Covaxin vaccines have been given by 10th February 2021. Thus, the existing strategies like proper diagnosis, treatment, and successful implementation of vaccine inoculation will reduce covid-19 burden and may lead to normalcy.