NEW DELHI: South Asia has emerged as one of two regions, the other being South America, in which the Covid pandemic is growing fastest, making them the new epicentres. Both within South Asia and within countries on the top 20 global lists of cases and deaths, India is among those in which the disease is gaining ground most rapidly.
Among the countries that are in the global top 20 lists by cases and deaths, India has the second highest daily growth rate of deaths (4.2%) and of cases (3.6%) over the last 15 days. Deaths are growing faster only in Chile at 4.4% a day while cases are increasing more rapidly in South Africa at 5.2% a day.
Within South Asia, India already has the highest case fatality rate of 3.1% and it has added to the toll faster than