India's Covid-19 cases rose from 9,000 to 90,000 in less than 50 days
According to the numbers provided by the Union health ministry, the number of daily Covid-19 cases have shot up 10 times in a span of 50 days.
Caught amid a severe grip of Covid-19 infections in a second wave, India is seeing an increased surge in the daily cases - a spike escalating at a rate worse than that seen last year.
According to the numbers provided by the Union health ministry, the number of daily Covid-19 cases have shot up 10 times in a span of 50 days.
India reported 9,121 cases on February 16, according to the health ministry. But in the weeks that followed, the number of daily cases increased at an alarming rate. When April began, the number touched 90,000 and on Sunday (April 4), India reported 93,249 new cases within a span of 24 hours, the highest since September last year.
India on Friday added the most cases of Covid-19 than any other country, and when it comes to average, even surpassed the number of new infections in the United States, an analysis of health ministry data showed.
India had seen its worst daily spike in cases on September 17, 2020, when 97,894 infections were recorded in a span of 24 hours.
Worsening the situation, five states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Kerala and Punjab - cumulatively account for 76.41 per cent of the total active cases in the country, according to the health ministry. India's worst-hit state - Maharashtra - single-handedly accounts for more than half (58.19%) of the total active caseload of the country.
Experts have pressed for strict measures to restrict movement and activities in the country, with a sharp focus on speeding up the vaccination drive. Amit Singh, associate professor at, Centre for Infectious Disease Research at the Indian Institute of Science, Bangalore, told HT, "I think there are going to be more cases this time around than during the first wave; the increase has also been very sharp as compared to the first wave. We can only hope that the case fatality remains the same.”
The active cases in the country have steadily increased for 25 days in a row, and surged to 6,91,597, accounting for 5.54 per cent of the total infections.
In a high-level meet chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, it was pointed out that the reasons for the sharper rise in cases could be mainly attributed to the severe decline in compliance of Covid-appropriate behaviour primarily in terms of use of masks and maintaining safe distance, pandemic fatigue and lack of effective implementation of containment measures at the field level, a statement by Prime Minister's Office (PMO) said.
"Although the exact contribution of mutant strains to the escalation of cases in some states remains speculative, the measures to control the pandemic remain the same and hence implementation of various protocols for Covid-19 management are all the more critical in those areas," the statement added.
PM Modi directed central teams to be deployed to Maharashtra and other badly-hit states. The PMO later said that he also ordered a special campaign to be carried out to tell people about Covid-appropriate behaviour with emphasis on 100% mask usage, personal hygiene and sanitation at public places, workplaces and health facilities.The campaign will start from April 6 and go on till April 14, the PMO statement said.
