India has overtaken the total number of covid-19 cases in China and is likely to cross Iran’s count in about a week if the curve does not bend downside.
While India has reported 85,940 cases so far, China, the starting point of the deadly virus, has recorded 84,038 cases, according to the Johns Hopkins University & Medicine’s live dashboard for the disease. Iran has 116,635 confirmed cases as on Saturday.
Globally, India now ranks 11th on the list of total confirmed cases. However, the global fatality rate is 6.9%, while that of India is 3.23%, according to Harsh Vardhan, Union health minister.
Maharashtra has the highest number of cases at 29,100, followed by Tamil Nadu with 10,108 cases and Gujarat with 9,931 cases as on Friday, according to the government data.
“While the government was planning to introduce greater relaxations during the fourth phase of the lockdown to minimise the economic impact of the pandemic, fresh concerns about a possible re-emergence of the coronavirus have surfaced,” said Savitha Kuttan, founder & chief executive officer (CEO), Omnicurius, a continuing medical education (CME) platform.
“Places which had limited positive cases earlier or were virus-free zones have reported a fresh spate of positive cases. We need to ramp up our testing, contact tracing and containment measures,” she said.