Impact of population density on Covid-19 infected and mortality rate in India

Bhadra, Arunava; Mukherjee, Arindam; Sarkar, Kabita

The Covid-19 is a highly contagious disease which becomes a serious global health concern. The residents living in areas with high population density, such as big or metropolitan cities, have a higher probability to come into close contact with others and consequently any contagious disease is expected to spread rapidly in dense areas. However, recently, after analyzing Covid-19 cases in the USA researchers at the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, London school of economics, and IZA—Institute of Labour Economics conclude that the spread of Covid-19 is not linked with population density. Here, we investigate the influence of population density on Covid-19 spread and related mortality in the context of India. After a detailed correlation and regression analysis of infection and mortality rates due to Covid-19 at the district level, we find moderate association between Covid-19 spread and population density.