New Delhi: India may see 1,750 coronavirus-related deaths per day, increasing to approximately 2,320 by the first week of June, claimed a report of the Lancet COVID-19 Commission by India Task Force members as the country is witnessing an exponential rise in COVID-19 cases. Titled ‘Managing India’s second COVID-19 wave: Urgent steps’, the report highlights the elements that led to the fresh wave of coronavirus. It also proposes 15 measures including an accelerated vaccination drive, a temporary ban on gatherings, identifying the root cause of surge among others to control the spread of the virus.
As per the study, the second wave of the virus is different from the first one in 2 important ways. Firstly, the rate of increase in new cases is significantly higher. The increase from 10,000 to 80,000 new cases per day from February to April has taken less than 40 days. However, in September 2020, it was 83 days. Moreover, most of the Covid-19 cases, in the second wave are asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic, resulting in relatively low rates of hospitalisation and mortality.
Meanwhile, India’s daily new cases continue to climb as a record 2,17,353 new infections have been registered in a span of 24 hours. The country’s total active cases has increased to 15,69,743 and now comprises 10.98 per cent of the country’s total infections. A net increase of 97,866 cases have been recorded in the total active case tally in a span of 24 hours.
The Union Health Minsitry said that ten states comprising Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Delhi, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh, Gujarat, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and West Bengal have shown a steep rise in daily new COVID-19 cases accounting for 79.10 per cent of the new infections.