3 years since India’s peak Covid surge struck in deadly May 2021.
As India marks three years since the deadly second wave peaked, it serves as a sobering reminder of how far the pandemic situation has progressed. At its worst in May 2021, the country was logging over 3 lakh cases daily on average, with deaths exceeding 1.2 lakh that month alone – accounting for 20% of all fatalities.
The daily spike hit an alarming high of 4.14 lakh detections on May 6th that year as hospitals got overrun across several states.
While the crisis lingered for two more months, cases and deaths saw a steady downward trend. Unlike other nations, no further lethal waves struck India post-Omicron surge in January 2022, which caused high transmission but less severe disease.
With active cases down to 850, the pandemic is no longer a serious public health threat domestically. Globally, too, COVID stands stripped of the ’emergency’ tag by WHO.
Though restrictions ended last March and mask rules were relaxed, the SARS-CoV-2 virus keeps circulating. Variant JN.1 fuels most present cases.
Labs continue genomic surveillance. Even marginal spikes are reported, but severity remains low, as evident from negligible deaths.
While COVID-19 still infects worldwide, India seems safely past its worst. Timely decisions have ensured a relatively comforting public health situation compared to the initial panic of those dark pandemic days of May 2021.
