Wednesday 24th April 2024
With the biggest one-day spike of 9,983 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, India has become the fifth worst-hit nation by the coronavirus pandemic.
The nation has recorded over 9,000 cases daily for the fifth consecutive day since June 3, taking the total count to 258,090.
The ongoing trend shows that the coronavirus pandemic has been growing continuously rather than exploding in India.
Countries like Italy, Spain, Germany, and the UK experienced the peak of the pandemic within weeks of the national lockdown. However, India has not yet witnessed the peak even after 90 days since the lockdown was imposed.
Even though India has escaped the pandemic explosion so far, the country remains at the risk of that happening as the Indian Government is set to unlock the country from June 8.
According to the WHO’s Health Emergencies Programme Executive Director Michael Ryan, the doubling time of COVID-19 infections in India was about three weeks away at this stage.
“So, the direction of travel of the epidemic is not exponential, but it is still growing,” exclaimed Ryan.
He added that the impact of COVID-19 is varying with the location in India.
“In South Asia, not just in India but in Bangladesh and Pakistan, other countries in South Asia, with large dense populations, the disease has not exploded. But there is always the risk of that happening,” informed Ryan.
He stressed that the nationwide lockdown in India had helped the country in drastically slowing the COVID-19 transmission, but the risk of COVID-19 explosion surfaces as the country open ups.
The Indian Government has imposed nationwide lockdown since March 25, 2020.
The Lockdown 5.0 came into force from June 8, marking several relaxations and reopening in a phased manner.
