India recorded less than 2.6 lakh COVID-19 cases in the week from August 9-15, which represents the country’s lowest tally of weekly COVID infections in five months since mid-March. This translates to a decline of 6.7% from the previous week.

However, in spite of the drop, weekly cases have been between 2.5 lakh and 3 lakh over the past six weeks. Over this duration, there has been a surge in cases in certain parts of the country, such as Kerala, which has seen a huge spike in cases while the infections have been rising and declining in the northeast. There have been minor surges in Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Himachal Pradesh.

The scenario has been persistent in Maharashtra, which has seen a sluggish decline in the numbers. Meanwhile, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha are registering over 1,000 daily cases.

The country registered 2,55,819 new cases in the week ending Sunday, which has been the lowest weekly tally since 1,55,912 cases were recorded in the week from March 8-14. Weekly cases had reached a peak on May 3-9. Since the peak, the weekly numbers declined below 3 lakh for the first time in the week of July 5-11. The figures have plateaued since then.

Fatalities related to COVID-19 continue to register a gradual fall. There were 3,334 fatalities in the current week, representing a 5.8% decline from the last week’s figure of 3,540.

On Sunday, the country registered around 33,500 new cases, the lowest daily count in six days. A total of 421 deaths were recorded on Sunday.

Source: ET Healthworld