By: Yash Gupte
The number of coronavirus infections in India has climbed to 10,981 active cases in the past day, while the country has recorded 1,573 new cases.
The whole world came to a standstill during the early months of 2020 due to the outbreak of the coronavirus or the COVID-19 virus. Majority of the countries across the world were devastated by the sudden and extremely rapid spread of the coronavirus. Countries including India witnessed nationwide lockdowns as suggested by the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to contain the spread of the virus. The pandemic claimed a huge number of lives during its peak in India. The pandemic resulted in disruption in global supply chains and this caused a huge economic setback for many countries across the world. Countries witnessed an immense slowdown in their economy.
Alarm bells are ringing once again as the number of fresh Covid cases keeps rising day after day. According to data available with the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the number of fresh daily cases now is as high as in October/ November 2022. Things are not as bad the summer of 2021 when the second wave of the pandemic ravaged India and killed about 300,000 citizens.
India recorded 1,573 new cases of COVID. The number of coronavirus infections in India has climbed to 10,981 active cases in the past day, while the country has recorded 1,573 new cases. The total number of tests done during the previous day is 1,20,958. According to data updated at 8 am on March 28, 2023, the death toll has risen to 5,30,841 with four deaths reconciled by Kerala. The active cases now comprise 0.02 percent of the total infections, while the national Covid recovery rate has been recorded at 98.79 percent. According to the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, the total number of COVID-19 cases in India stands at 4.47 crore (4,47,07,525). The weekly positivity rate is 1.47 percent, while the daily positivity rate is 1.30 percent. The data showed that there were 4,41,65,703 people who had recovered from the illness. According to the statistics, the case fatality rate is 1.19 percent.
The Times of India reported that the number of districts with a weekly test positivity rate (TPR) of 10 percent or more has climbed to 32 across 14 states and UTs, a 3. 5-fold increase in just two weeks, indicating a continuing spread of Covid-19 infections throughout the nation. The TPR is the proportion of all samples that tested positively for Covid. Nine districts in five states had a TPR of at least 10 percent two weeks prior, which is a sign of a heavy caseload. The data reveals that, in the March 19–25 week, there were 63 districts spread across 19 states/UTs where the TPR was 5–10 percent.
Talking about vaccinations, 2,20,65,65,361 (220 crore) doses of vaccine have been administered throughout the country. India has witnessed a high testing rate since the beginning of the pandemic. The country has tested 92.11 crore samples so far.
Source: Media Reports
The Covid-19 cases crossed the mark of 1,000 for the first time in the year 2023 on March 19, 2023 when 1,071 new cases were reported. The cases then hit a new milestone of 1,500 on March 25, 2023 as 1,590 new cases were reported. March 26 witnessed the highest number of new covid-19 infections since January 01, 2023. 1,890 new cases of the virus were reported on March 26, 2023, the highest since beginning of the year.
Out of the total 7,985 covid-19 hospital beds in Delhi, 46 are currently occupied and 7,939 are vacant. Out of the total 7,535 covid-19 oxygen beds, 42 are occupied and 7,493 are vacant. Talking about the ICU beds, out of the total 1,849 beds, 16 are occupied and 1,833 are vacant.
While Delhi's weekly positivity rate increased from 0.53 to 4.25 percent, Karnataka's average weekly positivity increased from 1.65 to 3.05 percent. The weekly positivity rate in Kerala skyrocketed from 1.47 percent to 4.51 percent. In case of states, Kerala has the highest number of active cases at 2,662 followed by Maharashtra (2,212) and Gujarat (1,849).
The pandemic claimed a huge number of lives during its peak in India. The pandemic resulted in disruption in global supply chains and this caused a huge economic setback for many countries across the world. Countries witnessed an immense slowdown in their economy. Also, the healthcare system in India was overburdened due to lack of availability of beds due to a rapid increase in cases during the waves. Shortage of oxygen was also reported among different states in India. The central government and state government had been doing their best to contain the spread of the virus but it could bring only little help as many people lost their dear ones due to the pandemic.
The COVID-19 pandemic had very adverse effects on people as many of them slipped into poverty, many lost their jobs and many lost their dear ones too. According to a World Bank analysis, approximately 80 percent of those who fell into poverty in 2020 as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic were from India. Indians made up 5.6 crore of the 7 crore persons who became poor that year as a result of the pandemic's economic losses.
Though the COVID-19 situation in India is not grave as compared to the other countries around the world, the government and the people in the country must be vigilant. The memories of first and second wave in the country continues to haunt the citizens. This time, it is important to be prepared before a new wave hits us.