India is nearing the 2 lakh mark after witnessing a sharp increase in the number of coronavirus cases. At 1,90,535 cases, India is the seventh worst hit country in the world, according to a tally by Johns Hopkins University.
India has 93,322 active cases with 91,818 discharges and 5,394 deaths.
Globally, the US is the worst-affected with over 17.9 lakh cases, followed by Brazil with over 5.14 lakh cases. Russia (over 4.05 lakh cases), UK (with over 2.76 lakh cases), Spain (over 2.39 lakh cases), Italy (over 2.32 lakh cases) along with the US and Brazil are the only countries ahead of India.
In India, the worst-affected of the states is Maharashtra with 67,655 cases including 2,286 deaths. Tamil Nadu and Delhi are also severely hit with 22,333 cases and 19,844 cases respectively. Delhi has seen 473 deaths so far and Tamil Nadu has reported 173 deaths. Gujarat has 16,779 cases including 1,078 deaths.
While the aforementioned states have been reporting a higher number of cases ever since the pandemic began, states that initially did not report a lot of cases have also been affected now. Odisha, Assam and Tripura that earlier had few cases have seen an exponential increase to 1,948, 1,272 and 313 cases respectively. Assam has reported four deaths while there have been no deaths in Tripura. Seven people have been reported dead in Odisha.
India’s climb to the 7th spot comes at a time when the government has relaxed most coronavirus lockdown restrictions across the country. With the first phase of relaxations or Unlock 1, India has allowed a host of activities including reopening of religious places, hotels and restaurants and shopping malls from June 8 onwards. In the second phase, schools, colleges and educational institutions would be reopened after consultation with states and UTs.
The government has however, restricted certain activities such as international air travel, reopening of the metro rail, movie theatres, gymnasiums, entertainment parks, swimming pools, theatres and bars and any kind of social, political, sports, entertainment, cultural, religious or academic gatherings and congregations.
The Centre is focussing on containment zones and has asked for strict lockdown measures. There would be strict perimetre control and only essential services would be allowed.
