India Hits 5 Million COVID-19 Cases & the Growth Rate is Alarming

India surpassed Brazil and became the second worst-affected country across the world after the United States.

(Image: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

With 90,123 new COVID-19 cases on Wednesday, 16 September, India has now crossed the five million-mark, taking the tally to 50,20,360. Meanwhile, the death toll increased by 1,290 to 82,066.

India had surpassed Brazil and became the second worst-affected country across the world after the United States, in the first week of September.

(Graphic: The Quint)

India has been reporting a record daily surge in the number of coronavirus cases, inching close to the United States, which has the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the world. But as a silver lining, India has the highest number of recovered patients in the world as well.

(Graphic: The Quint)

Even though the country has been leading the number of cases reported daily, India is far behind the US in the number of deaths reported. The US has reported 1.98 lakh deaths out of the 6.65 million cases reported so far, while India has reported 82,066 cases out of the 5 million cases reported.

How India Reached the Five Million-Mark

India reported the first COVID-19 case in Kerala on 30 January. Since then, it took 137 days for the country to reach 1 million COVID-19 cases. However, the doubling rate shot up soon after. The increase from one million to two million cases happened within 20 days. The three, four and five million marks were covered in 17, 13 and 10 days respectively.

Graphic: Kamran Akhter/The Quint)

The Worst-Affected States

(Graphic: The Quint)

Maharastra remains to be the worst-affected state in the country with over 10.7 lakh cases. Maharashtra is followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, and Uttar Pradesh.

On 15 September, Maharashtra’s tally stands at 10,77,374, with 2,91,630
active cases and has reported the highest number of deaths in the country with 29,894 cases. The Health Ministry on Tuesday said that Maharashtra has topped daily average deaths in the five states with the highest numbers.

(Graphic: The Quint)

Tamil Nadu has reported a total of 5,08,511 cases, 4,53,165 discharged and 8,434 deaths, while Karnataka has a total of 4,67,689 cases, and its death toll stands at 7,384.

The total number of cases in Andhra Pradesh stands at 5,75,079 and its death toll has reached 4,972, Health Ministry data shows. Meanwhile, Uttar Pradesh’s case tally stands at 3,17,195, while its death toll is at 4,491.