Chandigarh, April  03:

Active Covid-19 cases have increased 12 fold in the past two months in Punjab between February 3 and April 3, a rate that surpasses even Maharashtra’s case growth rate in the same time period. As India on Saturday reported the biggest single-day jump since last September with 89,129 new Covid-19 cases, the active number of Covid-19 cases breached the 6.5 lakh mark and settled at 6,58,909. The Union health ministry published a graph of how these cases increased in the last two months and which states have contributed the most.

Why active case count is important

Active Covid-19 cases refer to the number of people currently carrying the infection. This is an indicator of how actively the spread is taking place. This count is also a statement about a state’s healthcare efficiency because active cases will not shoot up unless there is a gap between daily infections and daily recoveries.

In both Delhi and Haryana, there has been a 10-fold jump in the number of active Covid-19 cases between February 3 and April 3.

10 states recorded a massive jump in active cases between February 3 and April 3

Maharashtra, Karnataka, Chhattisgarh, Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Gujarat, Haryana and Uttar Pradesh are the 10 states that recorded a maximum jump in the number of active cases in the last two months.

9-fold increase in Maharashtra, 12-fold in Punjab, 10-fold in Delhi

The Centre has already identified Maharashtra and Punjab as the two states of concerns given the steady surge in the number of daily infections. According to the ministry’s data, on March 3, there were 42,830 active Covid-19 cases in Maharashtra, which increased to 3,91,203 on March 3. But Punjab has outdone Maharashtra as the state had only 2,122 active cases on February 3. Two months after, the number became 24,458. In Punjab, cases are mostly concentrated in SAS Nagar, Amritsar, jalandhar, Ludhiana and Patiala.

Delhi witnessed a 10-fold increase between 1,217 active cases on February 3 and 11,994 cases on March 3. Haryana too saw a 10-fold jump between 1,055 and 11,0222 active Covid-19 cases. Though Maharashtra has been adding the highest number of infections in the last two months, Punjab, Delhi, Haryana’s surge has been sudden.

(Courtesy Hindustan Times)