COVID-19 2nd Wave in India: Know Differences in Symptoms, Disease Spread, and Impact of Mutant Stains Here

The coronavirus pandemic has gripped India in a second wave of the virus attack taking the count of total confirmed cases of COVID-19 to 14.2 million. With this tally, India stands second only to the United States that has recorded 31.5 million cases so far.

India on April 12, 2021, surpassed Brazil to become the world’s second-worst hit nation by the COVID-19.

COVID-19: First Wave vs. Second Wave

The first wave of the virus in India had seen a spike in September 2020 and went on to decline. Cut to March 2021, new cases of the infection started showing up and today on April 16, 2021, India is the second-worst hit nation with 15,69,743 active cases and a total of 1,74,308 deaths so far.

The second wave of the virus in 2021 is being compared as milder than the first wave back in 2020. There are tons of questions around how the second wave of the coronavirus is different from the first wave in terms of symptoms, spread, ageprofile and mutant variants.

#CoronaVirusUpdates:

📍#COVID19 India Tracker
(As on 16 April, 2021, 08:00 AM)

➡️Confirmed cases: 1,42,91,917
➡️Recovered: 1,25,47,866 (87.80%)👍
➡️Active cases: 15,69,743 (10.98%)
➡️Deaths: 1,74,308 (1.22%)#IndiaFightsCorona#Unite2FightCorona#StaySafe @MoHFW_INDIA pic.twitter.com/QCjLIhHBEa

— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) April 16, 2021

Symptoms

•The first wave of the coronavirus included chills, fever, loss of smell and taste, body ache, and respiratory complications.

•The new symptoms reported during the second wave of COVID-19 include loose motions, hearing impairment and pin eyes.

Spread

•The first wave of the virus was more widespread geographically whereas the second wave is more clustered. This means the infection during the second wave is limited to a lesser number of hotspots but with a higher number of cases in those very hotpots.

•The second wave, unlike the first wave, is showing the fastest spread rate of COVID-19.

Age Profile

•In the first wave, the mortality rate among older people was higher but the second wave is gripping more younger people under 45 years of age.

•Maharashtra and Karnataka, the two worst-hit states in the country have reported 50 per cent of the cases among people under 45 years of age.

•Also, doctors and experts and the data by the government have shown that more children are testing positive for the virus in the second wave.

Mutant Variants

The second wave is believed to be witnessing a spike in the number of cases due to the double mutant variant of COVID-19. Maharashtra has reported 60 per cent of double mutant COVID-19 cases.

India's Vaccination Drive

India had launched the world’s largest vaccination drive on April 11, 2021. So far, the country has administered 11.72 crores doses.

#Unite2FightCorona#LargestVaccineDrive

India's Cumulative Vaccination Coverage exceeds 11.72 Crores (11,72,23,509).https://t.co/qyyGVs9nol pic.twitter.com/qCrOPkGz7J

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) April 16, 2021