Vadodara: The second wave may have taken two-and-a-half-months to reach its peak after the first wave ended, it took merely 90 months to reach levels where it can be considered as having nearly ended.
The second wave also peaked and ended much quicker as compared to the first wave.
The first case of Covid-19 was detected on March 20 last year when a Spain-based NRI tested positive at the SSG Hospital (SSGH).
This was ahead of the nationwide lockdown clamped the central government.
The cases continued to rise gradually and reached the peak of the first wave on September 19, 2020, when 135 new cases were registered in Vadodara city.
Sources said that the first wave was slow to catch up with the city and district due to the lockdown.
If the lockdown delayed the peak, festivities ensured that the wave did not end early.
The number of new cases registered every day were coming down gradually, but the Diwali festivities gave a spike and cases started to rise for over two weeks from November 12, 2020.
The spike continued till November 19 when 113 cases were registered.
After hitting a low of 41 cases in February this year, the numbers started increasing steadily from February 23 and peaked on May 7.
It is believed that the graph did not go down below 41 due to the local body polls in the state.
The sharp downward slope after May 7 has brought much needed respite to the health officials.
“We are now able to focus on vaccination and other aspects.
The monsoon has started and needs attention,” said an official.
VMC’s medical officer (health) Dr Devesh Patel said that usually such epidemics increased and decreased at the same rate.
“But vaccination and the high number of infections in the second wave may have ensured that the numbers went down sharply,” he said.
When asked if the trend would continue, Patel said that this would depend on public behaviour when restrictions were eased.