India added last quarter million Covid-19 cases in just 8 days, 3 states added 55.7% patients

On July 16, India became only the third country in the world to reach the grim milestone of one million confirmed Covid-19 cases. The United States and Brazil are the other two countries who have crossed this mark.

What was the progress of the infection like in India?

The journey to a million cases took 137 days since March 2, but each quarter of that million has come at a faster pace. The first 2.5 lakh cases took 98 days. Cases in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi – which have the highest number of cumulative Covid-19 cases in the country – constituted 57% of all cases at the time. This was similar to their share in deaths: 58%.

The next quarter of a million cases took less than three weeks (19 days). The case fatality rate (CFR) or the ratio of Covid-19 deaths to cases had climbed from 2.8% at the time of 2.5 lakh cases to 3.1 at this point.

The share of the ‘Big Three’ states in total cases stood at 60%, while their share in Covid-19 deaths was 67%.

The share of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Delhi in total cases had climbed down slightly (59%) by July 8, when India was 2.5 lakh cases short of hitting the million mark. The country-wide CFR was down too, to 2.8% at this point. The share in deaths of the three states with the most case load, however, was at 68%.

On the day India hit the million mark – it took just eight days for the country to record the last quarter of that million – the top three states accounted for 55.7% cases.

States other than the top three are now seeing a rise in cases ,particularly in Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Bihar, Gujarat, Karnataka, Telangana, Uttar Pradesh, and West Bengal.

The slowing down of new cases in Delhi or Tamil Nadu of late could be one of the reasons why their share in country-wide deaths, too, has come down from late June and early July. The figure stood at 66% on the morning after India hit the one million mark.

Data sourced from How India Lives