From 1 to 1,69,824: Where India stands on Covid-19 map a year after

In September, India witnessed the worst situation as daily cases ranged between 75,000 and 90,000. The highest single-day spike was 96,551 fresh cases in 24 hours. In October, the situation bettered and in December, both Bharat Biotech and Pune's SII applied for emergency use of their vaccines.

On this day a year ago, India detected its first case of Covid-19, when a 20-year-old student from Thrissur, Kerala returned home from Wuhan. A year later, India has 1,69,824 active Covid-19 cases, which is a much better situation than what was a few months ago. With a recovery rate of 96.96%, and two vaccines already rolled out, India is better prepared to take on Covid-19 today.

A health worker checks the temperature of a passenger at Bandra train station in Mumbai, India, Saturday, Dec. 19, 2020. India's coronavirus cases have crossed 10 million with new infections dipping to their lowest levels in three months, as the country prepares for a massive COVID-19 vaccination in the new year. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool) (AP)

Here are a few takeaways/milestones of India's one-year journey:

Lockdown and unlock

After the first case was detected on January 30, Indian went into a national lockdown on March 25, which also led to an unprecedented migrant crisis. Indian economy was also hit hard with economic operations coming to a halt. The finance ministry released several stimulus packages catering to all sections of people. Like several stages of lockdowns, there was a stagewise unlocking starting from June.

Kerala still struggling with an increasing caseload

Ground Zero Kerala has been one of the most worst-hit states. The state currently has 72,239 active cases, the highest in the country, and logged 6,268 new infections on Friday, pushing the total tally to 9,17,630. Kerala had managed to rein in the virus last year when much of the country was struggling with it. But with international traffic, festivals, the spread of the infection could not be contained much. The death toll as of today stands at 3,704, which the state government claims is significantly lower given its high infection rate.

Dharavi Model

Dharavi, Asia’s largest slum, where people are cooped into close living quarters with shared toilet facilities was a huge cause of worry for the Maharashtra government. Experts and government alike feared that Dharavi, where social distancing was next to impossible, would explode with Covid-19 cases, which happened but the tables were turned by rigorous testing, detection, isolation, and treatment. On Friday, Dharavi reported six new cases, after reporting zero new cases for two days straight. The continent's largest slum currently has a total of 3,917 cases, while the number of active cases stands at 16.

2 wave, 2 vaccines

Amid unlocking, several Indian states, including Kerala, Delhi, reported a second wave of Covid-19. In September, India witnessed the worst situation as daily cases ranged between 75,000 and 90,000. The highest single-day spike was 96,551 fresh cases in 24 hours.

In October, the situation bettered and in December, both Bharat Biotech and Pune's Serum Institute of India applied for emergency use of their vaccines.

In the meantime, new strains of Coronavirus started cropping up in the UK, South Africa, and other parts of the world.

In January, both the vaccine makers were given a go-ahead for emergency use and India started the largest vaccination drive on January 16 — before the first year anniversary of Covid-19 in the country.