COVID-19: Where does India stand two weeks after its 100th case?
The total number of COVID-19 cases in India crossed the 1,000 mark on Sunday (March 29). Though the cases have increased in the past two weeks, the scale is different from all the other severely affected countries.
The total number of COVID-19 cases in India crossed the 1,000 mark on Sunday (March 29). Though the cases have increased in the past two weeks, the scale is different from all the other severely affected countries.
Italy, Spain, USA, Germany, Iran, France, and South Korea have witnessed exponential growth after touching the 100-cases mark. India, now has 1,024 ‘reported’ positive cases but is yet to see any exponential rise in the numbers.
What is exponential growth? It refers to a steep hike. In this case, it refers to a massive rise in the number of new cases reported every day within a certain period of time. India is not there yet. Not to sigh. In India, an exponential surge has not been recorded for two reasons – the stringent measures like all-the India lockdown ordered by the government and second, the marginal number of COVID-19 tests carried out. According to a report by Johns Hopkins University, the sudden surge in the number of cases is expected to be seen in May or June.
As on March 29, India saw 106 cases in a single day and this is very low in comparison to other countries that touched the 10,000 mark after two weeks post the 100th case.
World numbers: After two weeks and 100 cases
Spain (9942) and Iran (9000) had the maximum number of cases at the end of the two weeks after the 100th case. Three other countries – Italy, South Korea, and Germany – had reported above 5,000 cases in a similar timeframe. France had 4,499 cases at the end of the two week period.
The US, which is currently the worst-hit country with more than 1.23 lakh ,cases had clocked 4,596 cases by the end of two weeks.
Despite this, India does not get to relax. The reason for less number of cases could because of poor testing.
COVID-19 testing in India
As per the statistics provided by the Indian Council for Medical Research (ICMR), India had conducted 26,798 tests as on March 27 which translates to the rate of mere 19 tests per million of a population.
When compared to the tests carried out by South Korea, which has the rate of around 6,931 tests per million, the Indian figures are disappointing. Italy and the UK are conducting 5,268 and 1,469 tests per million while the USA is testing people at the rate of 1,280 per million of a population.
As per Indiaspend report, the states which are conducting more tests are seeing a hike in the number of cases. Kerala (4,516 tests) and Maharashtra (2,144 tests) had recorded the highest number of cases as on March 27.
Also, India has not yet officially declared the third stage of the spread which is community transmission, a phase where exponential growth in cases will be witnessed.
What is community transmission?
According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) the community transmission is the stage of an epidemic where it becomes impossible to relate confirmed cases through chains of transmission for a large number of cases, or by increasing positive tests through sentinel samples.
ICMR, after carrying out random testing last week to gauge the possibility of community transmission, ruled out all the qualms
