A spatial exploratory study on COVID-19 disaster - current outbreak in Tamil Nadu, India

Background: The COVID -19 which is also called as Novel Coronavirus Pneumonia (NCP) is a serious disease which got emerged on December 2019 in China. In the context of India, the first case was diagnosed and reported in the state of Kerala during the month of January 2020.The distribution of virus inflated gradually to the different parts of the country. The overall cases recorded in India surged more than 600nos till March 2019. The concept of medical geography is an emerging tool to identify the spatial distribution, pattern, concentration of the virus spread and also it determines health status of the local community. The main aim of the current research work is to figure out the prevailing situation and further to delineate the COVID Vulnerability Zone (CVZ) for the districts of Tamil Nadu. Methods: The researchers in the current study categorized the non-spatial data as COVID cases (Till March 28th, 2020). COVID -19 quarantine follow-up cases, Population data, COVID-19 testing centres and travellers log of the victims. The weighted overlay analysis was performed to identify the COVID Vulnerability Zone (CVZ) with the inclusion of four thematic layers such as COVID-cases, quadrant ine follow up cases population density and COVID -19 testing centres. Additionally, the travellers log was also analysed to determine the source of virus to the state. Results: As a result, the study highlighted the COVID – 19 Vulnerability Zone (CVZ) which was categorized into five vulnerability classes such as Very low, Low, Moderate, High and Very high vulnerability. Conclusion: Additionally the authors concluded the flow of victims with the travel history to trace out the spread of diseases in the state of Tamil Nadu. As a conclusion, the GIS have the potential to identify the spatial distribution, pattern, concentration of the virus spread and also it determines health status of the local community.