Key points:
- This suggests that, for the first time since August 8, when it overtook the US to become the world’s largest source of daily Covid-19 cases.
- In the week ended Wednesday, the US recorded 430,333 new cases of Covid-19.
- On August 8, India’s case trajectory eclipsed the US for the very first time.
- If you are reckless, you put families, yourself, your elders, and your children at risk, “he said.”
In the United States, the trajectory of new cases of coronavirus disease (Covid-19), which has risen with the onset of the third wave of infections, has exceeded that of India, which has been slowly declining over the past five weeks.
The US passes India in Daily Covid-19 Cases:
This hints that, for the first time since August 8, when it overtook the US to become the world’s largest source of daily Covid-19 cases, India is no longer the country with the newest infections in the world.
In the week ended Wednesday, the US recorded 430,333 new cases of Covid-19 (an estimate of 61,476 cases per day) against 400,299 cases in India (an estimate of 57,186 daily cases)-according to worldometers.info and HT’s Covid-19 dashboard, the largest and second-highest number of daily cases globally.
Although the US recorded more daily cases than those in India as early as October 15, single-day numbers normally fluctuate because of the weekend decline in testing.
A simpler and widely agreed indicator of a new-case trajectory is the seven-day average, as it takes into account the decline in numbers and other frequent variations at the weekend.
India’s Case Trajectory:
On August 8, India’s case trajectory eclipsed the US for the very first time, and on August 29, India’s trajectory had become the steepest ever reported by any country, when its seven-day average reached 70,741, eclipsing during the country’s second wave the peak infection rate in the US.
US spike in the second wave:
The US has seen a revival in cases in the past month in what analysts term the country’s third round of infections. With 69,887 daily infections, the second wave peaked in the US on July 25. About the middle of September, it then bottomed out to 35,585 new cases each day and began rising again.
Fall in India’s Infection rate:
Incidentally, this was at about the same period that India’s first (and so far only) wave peaked. According to our sources, infections in India have been falling since they reached a high of 93,617 new cases for the week ended September 16.
This figure has fallen every single day in the five weeks since, and was 57,186 on Wednesday, down about 39 per cent from the high.
India’s decline in cases has been caused by a decline in new infections in almost all states and Union territories, especially in Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh Tamil Nadu, and Delhi, states that have so far caused the national spike in cases.
India Vs USA in Covid-19 Cases:
Since the first week of August, since the former became the epicentre of the global pandemic, India has been closing the gap with the US. India had about 3 million fewer cases on August 8 than the US—2.15 million cases versus 5.12 million cases in the US.
This difference has been narrowed to 879,000 cases as of Wednesday night, with the US remaining the country with the most cases in the world with 8.58 million Covid-19 cases versus 7.7 million in India.
Now that the US is outstripping those in India with new cases in the US, the US will again continue to free up its lead as the nation that has been the hardest affected by the viral epidemic.
PM Modi While addressing the Nation:
Experts and the government have cautioned that the Indian curve will rise again with the festive season coming up if individuals let their guard down during the festivities.
In an address to the nation on Tuesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi cautioned the country that any inflexibility during the festive season might lead to a spike in infections.
If you are reckless, you put families, yourself, your elders, and your children at risk, “he said.”
In the meantime, Brazil remained in third place and posted an average of 22,736 daily infections for the whole week ended Wednesday.
Since the end of July, where India’s trajectory overtook that of the South American nation, it has stayed in the third position in terms of new infections. As of Wednesday night, Brazil had 5.3 million cases in total.
