India has been averaging more than one lakh new COVID-19 cases every day for the last few days. We crossed the earlier peak of 97000 odd daily cases reported in September 2020. It took a mere 25 days to cross the number compared to over 70 days during the first wave. However, it is still early to conclude on the severity or the direction of this wave. As per the daily update on 08 April 2021 provided by the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare (MoHFW), there were a total of 1,26,789 new COVID-19 positive cases that were reported across India in a single day. This is the highest number of cases recorded in a single day in India since the pandemic broke out in the country last year. In fact, over the last four days, more than one lakh new cases were reported each day for three days. As per the update on 05 April 2021, 1.03 lakh new cases were reported in a day, the first such instance of more than 1 lakh daily cases ever since the pandemic broke out in India. The earlier daily highest number of new cases was on 16 September 2020 with 97.8 thousand new cases were reported. Since then, the numbers have gradually fallen to around 10-12 thousand cases per day during January 2021 up until Mid-February 2021. However, starting from the last week of February 2021, there has been a gradual increase in the total number of new daily cases being reported, which further intensified during March 2021, indicating a Second wave of COVID-19 spread in the country. The rate of increase in COVID-19 cases during the 2nd wave more than twice during the 1st During the first wave of COVID-19 spread in the country, the number of new daily cases peaked during mid-September. As noted earlier, the highest number of cases in a single day was on 16 September 2020. The time taken to reach this peak was a long drawn one when compared to many other countries. After the first COVID-19 case was reported in India at the end of January 2020, it was not until June 2020 that the number of new daily cases crossed the 10 thousand mark. The progression described above is based on when the first instance a milestone i.e., 20 thousand cases, thirty thousand cases, etc. was crossed. Note that there could be instances of minor rise & fall in the numbers of new daily cases in between. However, comparatively, the growth in the number of cases during the current wave (2 wave) is much quicker. Case Positivity rate has nearly quadrupled in the last one month The information analysed so far does indicate a more rapid increase in the new cases of COVID-19 during the current second wave, when compared to the first wave. Apart from the spread of the infection, one of the reasons cited for the increase in the number of COVID-19 cases during the latter part of 2020 was the ramping up of the testing facilities. The increase in the number of COVID-19 tests has enabled the identification of a greater number of COVID-19 positive cases. In this context, Case Positive Rate (CPR) provides a better perspective. It indicates the number of cases identified as positive per every 100 tests conducted. We have observed in an earlier story, that there were early indications in the fall of CPR, with the number of tests remaining constant along with the decreasing number of new COVID-19 positive cases. To ensure consistency in the numbers and remove any extremities, we took a 7-day moving average for calculating the CPR instead of a daily CPR. Recent trends show a slight increase in the number of tests being conducted on a daily basis. It is to be seen if the increase in the number of tests would have an impact on CPR, or it would continue to grow as seen over the last month. While there is a slight fall in Fatality Rate, the recovery rate fell owing to more new cases One of the significant aspects of the spread of COVID-19 in India has been its lower fatality rate when compared to other countries. During the peak period of first-wave i.e., around mid-September’2020, the fatality rate was around 1.65% i.e., 1.65 deaths per 100 total confirmed COVID-19 positive cases (7-day moving average). In fact, while the COVID-19 numbers were increasing towards the peak, it coincided with a fall in the fatality rates. The fall in fatality rate further continued. Even during the last month, which has seen a significant increase in the number of COVID-19 positive cases and the CPR, the declining trend of fatality rate continued. The fatality rate is currently around 1.3%. Analysing the Fatality rate as a standalone indicator does not offer a complete picture. The fatality rate could take some time to stabilize as we are in the phase of a quick increase in cases.