India and Covid-19

Till a couple of months leading the world in daily case count, India has of late shown a marked improvement in its Covid-19 situation. From hitting a peak of over 97,000 new cases registered in a single day in September 2020, the country is now consistently reporting less than 20,000 daily cases on an average. And while this battle against the worst-ever pandemic in recent human history is far from over, India's Covid-19 graph does stand out quite significantly when a comparison is drawn with some of the severely-hit countries of the world. It is a fact that the United States has been currently leading the world when it comes to the total number of coronavirus infections and deaths. The US has been reporting over two lakh cases of fresh infections every day for the past few weeks, with the average case count perilously close to its peak of nearly 3 lakh infections. So is the situation in the United Kingdom, Brazil and Spain, and these countries have been daily reporting fresh infections that are close to the peak number. The per cent of the peak a country currently reports gives a fair idea as to how far it is from containing and controlling the spread of the coronavirus relative to the worst days of its outbreak. The world is looking with awe at India, which was so long always known to be a country of epidemics, famine and death, and wondering how this country has been able to actually control the situation. Union Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman had, in her budget speech a few days ago given clear indications that India's economy was on the path to recovery in the post-Covdid time. India's current average daily Covid-19 case count stands at just about 18% of its peak. If the declining trend holds good, then the percentage is expected to slide down further. India's current recovery rate stands at an impressive 96.5%, which is among the highest in the world. Likewise, when one looks at deaths, India has among the lowest case fatality ratTill a couple of months leading the world in daily case count, India has of late shown a marked improvement in its Covid-19 situation. From hitting a peak of over 97,000 new cases registered in a single day in September 2020, the country is now consistently reporting less than 20,000 daily cases on an average. And while this bo (CFR) vis-a-vis the worst-hit nations. The case-fatality ratio is the percentage of deaths compared to the total number of cases, and India's CFR currently stands at 1.4%. When compared, WHO statistics show that Mexico has the highest CFR at 8.7%, way above others. The Covid-19 situation of India can also be understood through its average case count per million. It is very important to note that despite being a densely populated country, India has been reporting only about 7,500 cases per million people. The number is almost 1/10th when compared to the United States, a country which always boasts of being the most advanced and healthiest.