India Explains Coronavirus Numbers, Nov 7: Delhi Is Now Largest Contributor Of Cases

Women walk in front of graffiti amid the spread of Covid-19 in New Delhi on Friday, November 6, 2020 (Express photo: Amit Mehra).

With 7,178 new cases of coronavirus infections on Friday, Delhi not only recorded a new record in its daily numbers, but also emerged as the largest contributor of cases, for the first time in more than four months.

The last time Delhi contributed the highest number of cases in the country was on June 23, when it recorded 3,947 new infections. That was the peak of the first wave of Delhi. At the time, the total number of Delhi cases was around 70,000, the second highest in the country after Maharashtra, which had been reporting around 4,000 new cases every day. In the second and third week of June, Delhi’s new daily detections were often second only to Maharashtra.

Cases in Delhi had started to decline steadily after the June 23 peak, and for over a month, Delhi had progressively reported fewer and fewer infections. Daily case detection had dropped below 1,000, active cases had dropped to about 10,000, and the spread of the disease was believed to have been controlled in the national capital. Since then, Delhi has seen two more peaks, each higher than the last. Over the past four days, Delhi has reported more than 6,700 cases every day. No other city has reported more than 6,000 cases in a single day.

Delhi now has nearly 40,000 active cases, the third highest in the country after Maharashtra and Kerala.

The increase in daily cases of Covid-19 in India.

The number of new infections nationwide surpassed the 50,000 mark once again on Friday, the second time in three days, after having remained below that figure for ten days in a row. But recoveries remained higher, nearly 54,000, leading to a further decline in active cases, which have now dropped to about 5.16 lakh. Almost 20% of active cases are in Maharashtra, just over a lakh, while Kerala has around 15%. 📣 Express Explained is now on Telegram

Meanwhile, the United States became the first country to register more than one lakh of cases in a single day. According to the World Health Organization’s coronavirus database, the United States reported 1.06 lakh of cases on Friday, bringing its total number of confirmed cases to more than 93.87 lakh. Overall, India was expected to cross the one lakh mark, when it began reporting more than 90,000 cases a day in the second week of September. India peaked with just under 98,000 cases at the time, and there has been a steady decline after that. Now even France reports more cases than India on some days.

The surge in the United States has meant that India’s emergence as the country with the highest burden of coronavirus infections has been postponed for the time being. At one point in October, it seemed only a matter of days when India will overtake the United States. But current trends have caused the gap to widen even more.

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The top ten states with the maximum case load:

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