COVID-19 pandemic in India
The COVID-19 pandemic in India is a part of the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). As of 15 February 2024, according to Indian government figures, India has the second-highest number of confirmed cases in the world (after the United States of America) with 45,026,139 reported cases of COVID-19 infection and the third-highest number of COVID-19 deaths (after the United States and Brazil) at 533,454 deaths. In October 2021, the World Health Organization estimated 4.7 million excess deaths, both directly and indirectly related to COVID-19 to have taken place in India.
| COVID-19 pandemic in India | |||||||
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COVID-19 cases per 100,000 people by state, as of 18 May 2021
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| Disease | COVID-19 | ||||||
| Virus strain | SARS-CoV-2 | ||||||
| Location | India | ||||||
| First outbreak | Wuhan, Hubei, China | ||||||
| Index case | Thrissur, Kerala 10°31′39″N 76°12′52″E | ||||||
| Date | 30 January 2020 – ongoing (4 years, 2 weeks and 2 days) | ||||||
| Confirmed cases | 45,026,139 | ||||||
| Recovered | 42,604,881 | ||||||
Deaths | 533,454 | ||||||
| Fatality rate | 1.18% | ||||||
Territories | 28 states and 8 union territories | ||||||
| Vaccinations |
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| Government website | |||||||
| www www | |||||||
The first cases of COVID-19 in India were reported on 30 January 2020 in three towns of Kerala, among three Indian medical students who had returned from Wuhan, the epicenter of the pandemic. Lockdowns were announced in Kerala on 23 March, and in the rest of the country on 25 March. Infection rates started to drop in September. Daily cases peaked mid-September with over 90,000 cases reported per-day, dropping to below 15,000 in January 2021. A second wave beginning in March 2021 was much more devastating than the first, with shortages of vaccines, hospital beds, oxygen cylinders and other medical supplies in parts of the country. By late April, India led the world in new and active cases. On 30 April 2021, it became the first country to report over 400,000 new cases in a 24-hour period. Experts stated that the virus may reach an endemic stage in India rather than completely disappear; in late August 2021, Soumya Swaminathan said India may be in some stage of endemicity where the country learns to live with the virus.
India began its vaccination programme on 16 January 2021 with AstraZeneca vaccine (Covishield) and the indigenous Covaxin. Later, Sputnik V and the Moderna vaccine was approved for emergency use too. On 30 January 2022, India announced that it administered about 1.7 billion doses of vaccines and more than 720 million people were fully vaccinated.