From one million to two million, India’s Covid count doubles in 3 weeks

India’s journey to 1 million Covid-19 cases was spread over close to six months from the time the first positive report surfaced, but the country took only three weeks to double the tally to almost 2 million.

In this duration, the number of deaths rose from 25,000 to 40,000. In fact, the average for the last one week is pegged at more than 800 coronavirus deaths a day. Health authorities, however, point to India’s fatality rate of around 2 per cent to show that it’s among the lowest in the world. They also counter the doomsayers, saying the rise in cases corresponds with the increase in testing.

The latest numbers suggest 600,000 tests are being conducted daily.

A breakup of the national data retains Maharashtra on top of the pile in terms of the total caseload. While the growth in Mumbai is slowing down, Pune is recording a surge with a total of about 100,000 cases. Southern states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka are the new epicentres. Many states are conducting sero-prevalence surveys to study the spread as they try to contain the damage. At this point, when the global Covid cases have touched nearly 19 million, with the number of deaths crossing 700,000, the battle for the second-most populated country in the world is far from over.