Direction: Read the passage carefully and answer the following questions.

We are living in truly challenging times. The loss of near and dear ones in the second surge of the Covid pandemic is painful. Those who have died include not only ordinary people but also eminent doctors, academics, business leaders, literary and public figures, editors and journalists, civil servants, and people from the judicial fraternity. Their grief has to be our grief, too, because only by sharing sorrow can we develop a true national resolve.

Yet, there is a glimmer of hope. The positivity rate is declining, and new cases are down in 200 districts. The rate of recovery is a satisfying 86.7 percent. As on May 19, nearly 18.58 crore doses of vaccine have been administered. There is a well-laid-out plan to increase the production capacity of vaccines. Covaxin production is projected to increase from 1.5 crore doses per month to 10 crore doses by September. Similarly, Covishield is projected to increase its production up to 10 crore doses per month by August. This, along with Sputnik and many other vaccines in the pipeline, implies that the government has a clear roadmap for the production of 216 crore vaccines before the end of this year.

It is necessary to understand the scale of the challenge. In the first wave of Covid, the total number of cases in one year — from March 31, 2020, to March 31, 2021 — as per WHO data, was 1.20 crore approximately. The fatality percentage was 1.34 percent. In contrast, in the second wave, within a short span of 49 days — from April 1 to May 19 — the total number of Covid cases reported was 1.31 crore and the fatality percentage was 1.10 percent. Yet, there is hope in this WHO data. Deaths per lakh population in India was 21, whereas it was 181 in the USA, 166 in France, 195 in the UK, 209 in Italy, 171 in Spain, and 106 in Germany. I must clarify that any death anywhere is very painful.