Sifting through Covid stats

Is the fight against the virus getting tougher? Do we have the infrastructure to handle a spike in the hinterlands? And what about testing facilities?

On the assumption today’s the first day out of lockdown, let me attempt to answer a question that must be at the back of many people’s minds: What’s the true picture of the spread of Covid-19? Over the last 65 days we’ve had a bewildering profusion of statistics often pointing in different directions. So a clear understanding may be difficult.

As of 9 am on Saturday, May 30, the health ministry’s website reports 173,763 cases of Covid-19, which is more than double that of China. Also, according to the Hindustan Times, the daily average of cases and deaths calculated on