India's coronavirus tally jumped from 1 lakh to 2 lakh in just 15 days

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Despite this rapid growth in Covid-19 cases, the govt has said its preventive measures to contain the disease have been very effective. It has also maintained that community transmission has not taken place in India yet.



The number of people who have tested positive for Covid-19 in India crossed the 2 lakh-mark on Tuesday. However, of these 2 lakh cases, over 1 lakh were reported in the last two weeks.

The first Covid-19 case in India was reported on January 30 in Kerala. These were students who had returned from Wuhan, the epicentre of coronavirus outbreak in China.

India saw coronavirus outbreak in March. By March 10, India had 50 cases. The number of Covid-19 cases has risen rapidly in the country since then.

On May 18, India's Covid-19 case tally reached 1 lakh. This was 110 days after the country reported its first case.

However, India took just 15 days to report another one lakh cases.

Despite this rapid growth, the government has said its preventive measures to contain the disease have been very effective. They cite a much lower fatality rate than several other countries, and also the lengthening doubling rate to back their claim.

Authorities said the recovery rate of Covid-19 patients is improving consistently in India and they are in a much better position in handling the pandemic.

Globally, more than 63 lakh people have tested positive for Covid-19 since its emergence in China last December and over 3.7 lakh have lost their lives.

Testing infrastructure has also been ramped up considerably in India in the recent weeks with an average of 1.2 lakh tests being conducted every day now.

So far, close to 40 lakh tests have been conducted in India, putting it among the top-five nations globally on this parameter alongside the US, Russia, UK and Spain. However, India does not figure among the top-100 countries when it comes to tests per one lakh population.

At present, India is the world's seventh worst-hit nation in terms of overall case count, after the US, Brazil, Russia, the UK, Spain and Italy. While more than 18 lakh cases have been detected in the US so far, Brazil has over 5 lakh cases and Russia has over 4 lakh. The UK tally is nearly 2.8 lakh cases, followed by close to 2.4 lakh in Spain and about 2.3 lakh in Italy.

In terms of the death toll, the US tops the global tally with more than 1.05 lakh fatalities, while India does not figure among the top-ten countries on this parameter.

More than 27 lakh have recovered so far across the world, with the US again topping this chart with nearly 4.6 lakh recoveries, followed by Brazil, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain, Turkey, Iran, India and China in the top-10.

In terms of active cases, India figures among the top-five nations, while the US again is on the top with more than 11 lakh active cases. The government said India is far away from the peak of Covid-19 spread.

The government has officially not admitted that Covid-19 spread is in community transmission stage. Responding to a question on Tuesday, Indian Council of Medical Research scientist Nivedita Gupta said, "Instead of using the word community transmission, it is important to understand the extent of spread of the disease and where do we stand in comparison with other countries."

When asked when the peak will arrive, Gupta said, "We are very far away from the peak. Our preventive measures to curtail the disease are very effective and we are better positioned in comparison with other countries. You will get to see the data in a week."

Source: IndiaToday.in