LUCKNOW: Getting deadlier with every passing day, the novel coronavirus infection on Saturday claimed 36 lives, the highest single day toll in the city so far.
It also infected about 6,000 people, taking the tally of active infections to nearly 44,500.
The ferocity of the second wave could be gauged from the fact that the
Covid toll and tally in the 17 days of April has now climbed to 272 and 54,000, respectively.
This means every second case and every fifth death due to the disease in Lucknow since the outbreak of the pandemic on March 11 last year has taken place this month.
The brighter side, however, was that 2,176 patients also recovered on Saturday, taking the total recoveries this month to 12, 341.
Overall, the city’s caseload is now at 1.39 lakh, of which 93,871 (67%) have recovered so far, while 1481 (1.1%) could not survive.
A comparison also showed that the first wave last year had taken 164 and 208 days, respectively, to reach an equal number of casualties and cases recorded in April alone.
Experts expressed possibilities of the surge peaking towards the April end before flattening in May.
“Last year, the first wave galloped in August before peaking in September and declining in October. The pace of the current second wave is higher, hence it may peak in next two weeks and start declining from May third week,” said a KGMU microbiologist.
“The curve generally declines after 50% population in an area is exposed to the infection as the virus does not get the required number of hosts to maintain the same transmission rate. Such a situation is called ‘localised herd immunity,” she explained.
However, the professor added, we can flatten the curve even earlier. The vaccinations are going on in full scale, which if coupled with strict preventions, the ‘safety and shots combo’ will bring the localised herd immunity at a faster rate.”