STRICKEN REPUTATION
The second wave of Covid-19 hit India like wildfire. On March 25, the country reported 59,000 new infections. Ten days on, we accounted for one in every six new infections globally. May 5 brought even worse news with India becoming the first nation to cross over 400,000 new infections in a day. While the case load began to decline thereafter, by June 1, we had added 16 million cases to our total confirmed cases during the second wave alone. In comparison, the 13 months before the onset of the wave had seen a total of 11 million cases.
The alarming statistics sparked a series of questions—most importantly, what
