Haryana was adding around 74 cases per day in the second fortnight of May, and this number rose 4.5 times to 329 in the first 10 days of this month. (Representational image: PTI)

There was a reason that Delhi’s adjoining states were asking that the capital not open its borders. Ten days into the lifting of restrictions, cases have started rising in these states. Haryana was adding around 74 cases per day in the second fortnight of May, and this number rose 4.5 times to 329 in the first 10 days of this month.

Analysis of daily average growth rate for Haryana shows that Covid cases in the state grew at 10.5% in the fifth lockdown, nearly double of the 5.7% growth in the fourth. But Haryana is not the only state to bear the brunt of opening its borders. The daily growth rate in Uttar Pradesh for the fifth lockdown is 4.3% at a high base of 11,335; this number was 4.1 in Lockdown 4 and 3.5 in Lockdown 3.

Other states which have seen a growth in their infection levels include West Bengal which has seen the daily growth in infections rise to 5.8% this month, as against 5% in the two weeks of the previous lockdown.

Kerala, which was the model state, is witnessing a 5.7% growth, up from 5.3% in Lockdown 4 and a meagre 1.2% in Lockdown 3. Karnataka is no better, growing at 7.3%.

Jharkhand has a rate of 9.6%, the highest levels till date; in neighbouring Bihar, infection growth seems to have slowed down.

How rapidly infection is spreading beyond the hotspots can be gauged from the fact that on May 31 there were eight states with infections over 5,000. On June 10, data indicates 12 states with more than 5,000 infections.