Coronavirus in INDIA

Since the Wuhan coronavirus outbreak in China, the first case of coronavirus in India, the second most populated country in the world, was reported in the state of Kerala. India reported its first case on January 30 – the patient in the southern Indian state of Kerala had been studying in Wuhan, the Chinese city where the first known case of Covid-19 was recorded last December. In July, COVID-19 cases jumped from 10 lakh to 20 lakh in 21 days. It took 16 more days to race past 30 lakh and 13 days more to cross the 40-lakh mark. It took 110 days for the Covid-19 cases in the country to reach 1 lakh, while it had taken 59 days more to go past the10-lakhpost.

Total cases: 6.07 M

Total deaths: 95,542

Recovered: 4.85 M

A total of 53,866 patients have died of covid-19 in India so far. Andhra Pradesh now has the fifth highest toll among all states, with 2,906 deaths. Karnataka’s toll crossed 4,300 this week. These two states, along with Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi, have a 72% share in the national death count.

The Centre on Saturday exhorted Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh and Karnataka, accounting for about 46 per cent of active COVID-19 cases and 52 per cent of deaths in the last 24 hours, to focus on aggressive measures to break the chain of transmission and keep mortality rate below 1 per cent.   Meanwhile, amid a rise in the number of coronavirus cases in Delhi, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal sought to assure people that there is no need to panic as the situation is completely under control. Addressing an online media briefing, Kejriwal asserted that the number of cases is rising as the AAP government has doubled testing in the city.

Maharashtra alone had more cases than Iran, which has a slightly lower population than the Indian state, and Pakistan, which is home to nearly twice as many people. Delhi on Friday had more cases than Canada or Argentina, which both have higher populations than the Indian capital. Hospitals in Dehi have been buckling under the pressure.

By contrast, some parts of the country have barely reported the virus. The union territory of Lakshadweep – a tropical archipelago off the coast of Kerala – hasn’t reported any cases. Five other states have had cases but no coronavirus deaths.

Despite India’s huge number of cases, officials have pointed out that the country’s death toll per capita is still relatively low.