COVID-19 150,000 cases & counting
Number of infections rose from 100,000 to 150,000 in eight days, at least 170 deaths recorded in 24 hours
NEW DELHI: With over 6,000 new cases between Tuesday and Wednesday for the ninth day, the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) tally in India surged past the 150,000-mark, while the number fatalities increased by 170, the Union health ministry said on Wednesday.
The number of cases rose from 100,000 to 150,000 in eight days. The doubling rate of infections over the past week stood at 13.7 days, according to the analysis of data released by states.
According to covid19india.org, which tracks coronavirus cases on real time basis, the country saw 154,181 cases and 4,373 deaths till 6.30pm on Wednesday.
Of the 170 deaths reported since Tuesday morning, 97 were in Maharashtra, 27 in Gujarat, 12 in Delhi, nine in Tamil Nadu, five each in Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal, three in Rajasthan and one each in Andhra Pradesh, Chandigarh, Haryana, Jammu and Kashmir, Kerala, Telangana and Uttarakhand.
The number of active Covid-19 cases climbed to 84,091 while 64,824 people have recovered, the tracker said. That’s a recovery rate of 42.2%.
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Delhi, the worst-affected states, together account for over 100,000 cases, indicating how metropolises have become hot spots for the virus.
A day after the number of new Covid-19 cases in Delhi fell below 500 (412) for the first time in a week, the national capital reported 792 infections of the disease on Wednesday, the Delhi government’s daily health bulletin said. The fresh cases took Delhi’s infection tally to 15,257 since the first Covid-19 case was reported here on March 2.
The bulletin said 15 more deaths have taken the toll from Covid-19 in the city to 303. The Covid-19 mortality rate in the city is now almost 2%, compared to 2.8% nationally.
On Sunday, cases in India
overtook that of Iran’s to become the 10th biggest hot spot of the pathogen, which has rapidly swept the globe, claiming new epicentres across continents and leaving health care systems overwhelmed in its wake.
New Covid-19 cases dropped to zero for the first time on Saturday in China, the country where the pandemic originated, but surged in India and ravaged South America. Experts say that in countries with weak health care systems and impoverished populations, fighting the virus has proven to be difficult.
The latest 10,000 infections were recorded in two days. India recorded its first 10,000 Covid-19 cases in nearly 43 days, with a wave of infections beginning in March after three isolated cases were first reported in Kerala in January. It took seven days for the cases to climb from 20,000 to 30,000.
Data shows that about a third of the total cases have been reported over the past week. As India relaxes curbs that were put in place on March 25, experts say the coming weeks will be crucial. Dr SK Sarin, director of the Institute of Liver and Biliary Sciences and who also heads the five-member committee formed to assist the Delhi CM to tackle the pandemic, told HT that the lockdown has only delayed the peak, “which is likely to come maybe in July or mid-August”.