Coronavirus numbers explained: Delhi has maximum caseload after Mumbai

India Coronavirus (Covid-19) Cases Numbers: Despite the big rise in Delhi on two consecutive days, the growth rate in the city is still below the national average right now. The current growth rate (seven day compounded daily growth) in Delhi is 4.89 while the national growth rate is 5.02 per cent.

Delhi had an unusual jump in its Coronavirus infections on Thursday, when more than 1,000 new cases were discovered for the first time. Delhi had been reporting more than 500 cases every day for almost ten days now. Only once in the last week has its daily increase been less than 500. On Wednesday, it had detected 792 cases, its highest till then.

The national capital now has 16,281 confirmed cases, of which nearly 7,500 have recovered. It is the city with the maximum caseload in the country, after Mumbai, which has more than 35,000 cases. Chennai, Ahmedabad and Pune complete the top five.

Despite the big rise in Delhi on two consecutive days, the growth rate in the city is still below the national average right now. The current growth rate (seven day compounded daily growth) in Delhi is 4.89 while the national growth rate is 5.02 per cent. Among the states with significant caseloads that are growing faster than the national average right now are Bihar, Assam, Kerala and, of course, Maharashtra which is growing at 5.44 per cent.

Top ten states with maximum caseload

On Thursday, more than 7,200 new cases were detected across the country, taking the total number of confirmed positive cases to more than 1.65 lakh.

Delhi’s rising cases seem to be having a spillover effect on the neighbouring areas of Haryana as well. In the last few days, the adjoining towns of Gurgaon, Faridabad, Sonepat and Jhajjar have also reported a spurt in new cases. Haryana, which too has been growing at a rate faster than national average right now, reported its biggest surge on Thursday, with 123 new cases. Of these, 92 cases came from Gurgaon, Faridabad and Sonepat. The state had already sealed the main roads connecting these districts to Delhi, and has not been allowing any movement to or from the national capital. Now, even the interior roads, joining the villages to Delhi have been blocked for movement.

Meanwhile, Kerala is continuing to add big numbers to its total. On Thursday, 85 new cases were discovered, taking the state tally to 1088. Kerala has doubled its caseload in the last two weeks. On Thursday, following a review meeting, chief minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the state was on the brink of experiencing a community spread of the disease. He said the only silver lining was that most of the new cases were still being found in people coming from other states, and they can be easily identified and isolated.

Karnataka, which too has been witnessing a relative surge in its numbers in the last one week, has asked the central government to restrict the number of flights being operated from states which have high number of Coronavirus cases. The state has placed restrictions on people coming in from other states, especially from Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Delhi. Such passengers need to undergo testing even if they do not show any symptoms of COVID-19 disease. The Karnataka government is trying to extend this restriction on people arriving by flights as well.