50,000 cases, over 2,000 deaths: How Covid-19 devastated India in the past week

India has seen the coronavirus disease spread rapidly. In the past week, the country has daily seen 10,000 cases of Covid-19 on an average which has taken the overall tally to over three lakh. India had crossed the one-lakh mark on May 19.

According to Union health ministry, India’s Covid-19 tally breached the three-lakh mark with a record single-day spike of 11,458 infections on Saturday, while the death toll rose to 8,884 with 386 new fatalities.

Coronavirus deaths in India crossed 9,000 on Saturday, with the country adding the last 1,000 deaths in three days. Maharashtra, Gujarat and Delhi account for roughly two-thirds of all deaths in India. On Saturday, the country’s death toll touched 9,196, having crossed 8,000 on June 10 and 7,000 on June 3.

With 3,21,405 cases, India’s case fatality rate is 2.9 per cent, compared to the world’s 5.5 per cent.

India on Friday overtook the United Kingdom to climb the fourth spot in the list of nations worst hit by the coronavirus pandemic, a week after surpassing the tallies of Italy and Spain. Only the US, Brazil and Russia have more number of Covid-19 cases than India now.

Apart from this, the past week also saw the government easing restrictions as part of the nationwide lockdown to open shopping malls, restaurants, religious places and other things. The decision came into effect on June 8. It has been taken to kickstart the economy which has been stalled and battered by the lockdown.

This was the first of the three-phased unlocking planned by the government. A decision on reopening educational institutions and other places will be taken in July.

There are a few cities where the disease saw a huge spike in the last 10 days, so much so that the Centre has stepped in. These 15 cities, including Guguram, Faridabad, Vadodara, Solapur and Guwahati, have seen the Covid-19 cases rise by 40 to 45 per cent in the last 10 days.

Delhi has been recording its highest single-day numbers for the last few days. On Saturday, the national capital recorded 2,134 cases and 57 deaths. Almost one in three persons tested for the coronavirus disease in Delhi this week had the infection, according to government data. Delhi’s positivity rate has been rising rapidly, from an average of 23 per cent in the week ending on June 7, and, before that, an average of 14 per cent the previous week.

The situation in Gurugram is also worsening. Delhi’s neighbour has seen 1,839 Covid-19 cases in the last 10 days - the rate of infection here is 63 per cent. On June 2, the number of patients in Gurugram was 1,000, and now the number has crossed 3,000-mark.

Maharashtra has seen the highest number of Covid-19 cases in the country, The state has 32 per cent of India’s Covid-19 patients. Out of the total cases in Maharashtra, 54.73 per cent are from Mumbai. On Saturday, Mumbai saw 1,380 new infections and 69 more deaths taking the tally of the cases to 56,831 and deaths to 2,113. The city accounted for 63.73 per cent of the state’s new cases on May 14, 56.47 per cent on May 28 and 49.06 per cent on June 4. This percentage stands at 39.10 per cent now.

On June 7, Maharashtra recorded 3,007 coronavirus cases that pushed its tally to 85,975 - more than that of China.

Nagpur is another city in Maharashtra where the caseload is very high. The city’s tally saw 100 cases in about eight days, but the rate increased from the last week of May. Nagpur recorded more than 100 Covid-19 cases in the last two days which took the city’s tally to over 1,900.

In Guwahati, the number of cases has seen a spike of 50 per cent in then last 10 days. On June 5, Assam had 1,000 cases which have now risen to 3,693.

Another hotspot in the country is Jaipur. The capital of Rajasthan has seen 100 daily cases in the last week of May. In the last 10 days, more than 500 people have been infected by the coronavirus disease in the city. At least 30 people have died during this period.

Vadodara, in Covid-19 hotspot Gujarat, has seen the number of cases rise by 40 to 45 per cent in the last 10 days. So far, the umber of cases has reached 1,471.

Indore and Bhopal are the other cities where the spread of the coronavirus disease has been rapid. While Indore saw 147 cases in the last four days, Bhopal has recorded 163.