NEW DELHI: With the number of COVID-19 cases crossing the 5 lakh mark on Friday, an analysis of the number of days taken to cross each 1 lakh shows it is getting increasingly fewer. This is particularly true for the last couple of weeks during Unlock 1.0. India took nearly 110 days to cross one lakh confirmed positive cases.
But subsequently, the time taken has been short. It took just 15 days to reach 2 lakh cases, 10 days for 3 lakh, eight days for 4 lakh, and only six days to cross 5 lakh cases. The confirmed COVID-19 cases have surged by over 3 lakh in the last 26 days of Unlock 1.0 that began on June 1.
The total number of confirmed cases was 1.98 lakh on June 1 and it crossed the 5 lakh mark on June 26.It was on January 30 when the country recorded the first confirmed COVID-19 case when a person who had returned to Thrissur district in Kerala from China tested positive. The growth was very slow initially as in a span of four days, two more people tested positive in Kerala. They, too, had returned gone to China on a vacation.
It was on May 18 when India recorded one lakh confirmed cases, which means it took over three months (109 days). But, the infection began spreading fast and captured most parts of the country during the last couple of weeks. COVID-19 cases crossed the 2 lakh mark on June 2, a day after the government announced Unlock 1 on June 1 with only a few restrictions. This was further relaxed on June 8 with the opening of malls, restaurants and places of worship in most parts.
Thereafter, the number of positive cases has galloped. The cases reached 3 lakh on June 12. It became 4 lakh on June 20 and crossed 5 lakh on June June 26. The data has revealed that the spike is coming mainly from Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Maharashtra, Haryana, Telangana and Andhra Pradesh. While Maharashtra has the highest caseload in the country, it has also started witnessing a sudden spike since the last two days as the cases have gone up by over 10,000 in the last two days.
Similarly, Delhi has also started witnessing a large number of fresh COVID-19 cases as it is recording a daily addition of over 3,000 cases. Delhi has added more than 25,000 cases in the last one week and the spike has been attributed to the increase in testing. After the Centre’s intervention, the city has been testing between 15,000 and 19,000 samples every day.