Covid-19 Factoid: India's fifth block of 10,000 deaths came in just 10 days

While the country had taken nearly 100 days from the outbreak to report its first 10,000 deaths, the fifth has taken a tenth of that

The global count of confirmed coronavirus cases has now reached 21.7 million, of which over 6 million are still active ones. While more than 14 million people have made successful recoveries worldwide, about 769,000 patients have lost their lives so far.

In India, there now are almost 2.6 million reported cases, of which 26 per cent (677,444) are currently active. The recovery rate has now risen to 72 per cent, with 1,862,258 cases reported as having recovered. The fatality rate, meanwhile, has dipped below 2 per cent.

Here are some data points on the outbreak:

1. India’s death toll crosses 50,000

As India crosses the grim milestone of 50,000 fatalities caused by the virus, the pace of deaths continues to show an upward trajectory. The latest 10,000 deaths were registered in just 10 days, the shortest span of time taken for so many deaths till now. By comparison, the first 10,000 deaths had taken almost 100 days. India at present has the fourth-highest death toll in the world.

2. India’s doubling rate continues to get scarier

In more bad news, India has the fastest doubling time among the world’s most affected countries for confirmed cases. It took just 23 days for the country to double its tally to over 2.5 million cases, almost half of the global average of 45 days. South Africa, the worst performer on this metric after India, is doubling its case count in 33 days.

3. Bihar latest state to cross 100,000 mark in number of cases

Bihar has become the eighth state to join the unfortunate club of Indian states with over 100,000 cases. It has done so within days of neighbouring West Bengal entering the six-figure league. After first 10,000 cases, Bihar took 93 days to reach 100,000. Maharashtra, the worst-affected state in India, had taken 67 days, and Tamil Nadu 83 days. More than a third of Bihar’s reported cases are currently active, and its death toll stands at over 500.