Year After Lockdown, Covid Surges Again, No Clarity On Trigger Yet

There is a higher probability of healthcare facilities crumbling if the rise in cases continues, public health experts have said.

Exactly a year after lockdown was imposed in the country to contain the Covid pandemic, India's seeing a second wave of infection steeper than the first.  While there is no lockdown and streets are crowded,  Mumbai preparing for 10,000 cases a day by ramping up the number of hospital beds across the city.  The authorities said they are aiming to have 21,000 beds. The big concern though, is that the disease, in a first, is spreading faster in small towns and districts. There is a higher probability of healthcare facilities crumbling if the rise in cases continues, public health experts have said. Over the last 24 hours, 53,476 Covid-19 cases were reported across the country -- the highest since October 23. More 1 lakh cases were logged in a space of 48 hours. The authorities said over 80 per cent cases in the last two days were asymptomatic and the mortality rate is "extremely low". The surge of the virus again in Maharashtra, the state that bore the brunt of the first wave, has perplexed experts.