COVID-19 cases in Delhi and Mumbai, two of the most populated cities in India, show a different picture of the growth of the disease and underscore the variations across India.

On March 20, Delhi had 20 confirmed cases of COVID-19 while Mumbai had 21, data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare show. By April 28, cases in Delhi had risen to 3,314 while in Mumbai they had risen to 5,982.

In Mumbai, with a population of approximately 12.6 million, 471 of every million people had been detected positive, while in Delhi, with a population of about 19.5 million, 169 per million were positive for COVID-19.

The death rate per million was four in Delhi while it was 19 in Mumbai, as of April 28, the data show. Of all COVID-19 patients, 1.6% had died in Delhi, while 4% had died in Mumbai.

Shreya Khaitan

    Shreya is a writer and editor at IndiaSpend. She is a graduate of the Global Human Development program at Georgetown University, Washington D.C. and has previously worked with the Mumbai bureau of The Wall Street Journal. There she researched for a series on drug resistant tuberculosis and wrote on a number of topics, ranging from reservation for women in Indian politics to the black and yellow taxis plying the city’s roads. Her report on a pilot TB care programme in Gujarat's Mehsana district won the 2017 REACH Media Award for excellence in reporting on TB. She has also worked in education and early childhood development with organizations in Washington D.C., India and Jordan.