India has surpassed a grim milestone. Confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the country thus far now exceed one million.
At the time of publishing, confirmed cases of COVID-19 – the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), often simply referred to as the coronavirus – now number 1,010,250. Surpassing one million cases is a distinction only realised by the United States and Brazil, with 3,697,318 and 2,014,738 confirmed cases to date at the time of writing respectively.
That the number of COVID-19 cases number now exceed one million in India is a far cry from the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak in the country, where cases were limited to three repatriates to Kerala from the pandemic epicentre in the Chinese province of Hubei’s capital city Wuhan. India now shoulders the third-largest burden of COVID-19 worldwide and the disruptions to its healthcare system are far-reaching.
The figure of one million does entail that 637,650 of those infected thus far have recovered. Active cases of COVID-19 stand at 346,938 at the time of publishing, considering those who have recovered and the 25,664 people who, tragically, have lost their lives to the virus.
Surpassing the mark of one million cases comes after a record one-day surge in cases – one that coincided with a record number of deaths. As it was reported today, cases increased by 34,956 in the preceding 24 hours. In the same timeframe, COVID-19 deaths increased by a record 687.
Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Dr Harsh Vardhan has taken to Twitter to offer assurances, noting that “it is…notable that less than 1.94 percent of the cases are in #ICUs, 0.35 percent [of] cases are on #ventilators and 2.81 percent [of] cases are on #Oxygen beds.” He has also promoted the fact that more than 6.35 lakh people have recovered. Yet the surge in confirmed cases thus far is nonetheless concerning, as India is posed to continue to record significant increases in cases in the weeks ahead.
At the global level, confirmed COVID-19 cases thus far number at 13,986,706 of which 5,081,314 are active. The total number of people at the global level who have recovered from COVID-19 stands at 8,311,861, whilst the number of fatalities numbers at 593,531 – a ‘closed case’ ratio of 93 : 7. Of the active cases, 99 percent – translating to 5,021,347 current patients – are in mild condition. The remaining one percent – 59,967 patients – are in serious or critical condition.
