India Saturday crossed the somber milestone of one crore COVID-19 cases, adding 10 lakh infections in nearly a month, even as the virus spread slowed and recoveries surged to over 95.50 lakh, according to Union Health Ministry data.
The country’s COVID-19 case tally had surpassed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, and 40 lakh on September 5.
It went past 50 lakh on September 16, 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, and surpassed 90 lakh on November 20.
The health ministry’s data updated at 8 am on Saturday showed the total number of cases mounted to 1,00,04,599, and the death toll to 1,45,136 with the virus claiming 347 more lives in a span of 24 hours.
However, the COVID-19 case fatality rate has further declined to 1.45 per cent.
India reported its first COVID-19 case 323 days ago on January 30 in Kerala, while the first death was reported on March 10 in Karnataka.
Asked if the worst was over for India, Dr Samiran Panda, the Head of Epidemiology and Communicable Diseases at the Indian Council of Medical Research, said the epidemiological curve has come down for some states, while there is a fluctuation for others.
“More states, we have seen effective control while in some of the states we need to be mindful and watchful. The state scenarios are different from each other,” Panda told PTI.
When asked if a second peak of COVID-19 can be worse, noted clinical scientist Gagandeep Kang opined the transmission will not be as rapid as was seen the first time and peak will not be as high. “I don’t think the exposure is enough to say that we have herd immunity and won’t need to worry about it again, but I think it is enough to ensure that we will some level of protection so that the transmission will not be as rapid as was seen the first time and peak will not be as high as we saw the first time.