While a few states are still struggling with the pandemic, the feared post-festive season surge has not materialized, say doctors.
At least half of the confirmed Covid-19 cases have been reported from only 47 of India’s 700-plus districts, according to an analysis of data compiled by How India Lives.
States like Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka, which at one point were reporting between 8,000 and 10,000 new cases every day, are now finding cases in the hundreds.
“It took India 325 days to cross the 10 million mark. There have been over 145,000 patients who have died so far but our recovery rate of 95 per cent is one of the highest globally,” a senior health ministry official told RFI.
Preparation
Across India, more than 160 million coronavirus tests have been conducted, government data shows. The country is preparing for the daunting task of vaccinating its population of 1.3 billion next year.
India is yet to approve any vaccine. But several companies have applied for authorization, including Oxford-AstraZeneca which has partnered with India's Serum Institute, the world's largest vaccine manufacturer.
“This will be a huge task and just the logistics are mind boggling," T Jacob John, a virologist told RFI. "The government has already decided that frontline health workers and vulnerable people with underlying health conditions will receive the vaccine first.”
In September, new infections across the country were being reported faster than anywhere else in the world where it was adding 80,000 to 90,000 fresh infections each day.
A government-appointed committee of scientists said the coronavirus epidemic in India may have peaked and, if the use of masks and physical distancing measures continue to be effective at the current level, the epidemic will most likely have run its course by February next year.
These are the findings of a study carried out by a seven-member expert panel on the future course of the pandemic, research commissioned by the Department of Science and Technology.
Rise
“The pandemic has peaked but this isn’t reason for complacency as this downward trend will continue only if we maintain protective measures,” said M Vidyasagar, of the Indian Institute of Technology.
From the first Covid-19 case recorded in India on 30 January, it took six months for the country to reach a million infections.
However, the rise has been rapid since then and it has taken just two more months for India to reach 6 million cases and for every subsequent million cases.
While the epidemic in India seems to be in steady decline, several countries in Europe and the Americas are passing through their worst phase.
The US has been reporting between 200,000 and 250,000 cases every day, while Brazil is detecting more than 50,000 cases daily.
Germany, the United Kingdom, Italy, and Russia are in the midst of a new surge – with more than 20,000 people getting infected daily in several of these countries.
