125 DAYS AFTER PEAK, 2ND WAVE NUMBERS STILL WORSE THAN 1ST

The number of daily cases in the second wave are still significantly higher than in the first one, 125 days after both peaked. September 10, 2021, marked the 125th day after the 2nd wave hit its peak on May 8. Business Standard calculated the peak based on seven-day moving average number of cases to smoothen volatility, based on data from independent tracker covid19india.org. Daily cases at the peak of the second wave were around four times the peak of the first one, which was on September 17, 2020. A reason for this could be improved testing. There were a little over 700,000 tests being conducted daily in January 2021, which marked 125 days from the peak of the first wave. This has more than doubled in thesecondwave. Butthehigher cases may not just be a function of more testing. Disease prevalence, measured by the test positivity ratio, is higher now. The test positivity ratio, or the proportion of tests which are positive for Covid-19, was 1.9 per cent in January 2021. It was at 2.1 per cent as of September 10, 2021. There are also more people dying every day than in the same period from the peak of the first wave. This is despite no major reported oxygen shortages or lack of other medical infrastructure, as seen earlier. Deaths are over 80 per cent higher than in 125 days after the peak of the first wave.