Poll-bound states become easy prey as second wave of Covid-19 grasps India

Along with worst-hit Maharashtra, the Covid-19 infection is spreading in several other states, including poll-bound West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.

New Covid-19 cases have leaped from 15,000 a day to over one lakh per day in just a month as India battles a second wave of the pandemic. Along with worst-hit Maharashtra, the infection is spreading in several other states, including poll-bound West Bengal and Tamil Nadu. In the last two weeks, new cases in Bengal have surged almost six times from 368 a day to 1,957 per day. The state has reported nearly six lakh cases in the last one year. In Tamil Nadu, new cases went up from 1,385 to 3,581, and in Karnataka, from 1,445 to 4,553 during the same period. Kerala, Assam and Puducherry have also followed the same path. The situation in Uttar Pradesh is equally alarming as new cases in India’s most populous state soared from 538 to 4,136 in just two weeks. A similar trend is also emerging in Delhi, with the Capital reporting a nearly four-fold rise in daily cases (888 to 3,145) during the same period.