India recorded the sharpest percentage decline in weekly COVID-19 cases in close to two months as cases dropped by 13.6% in the week ending Sunday. However, testing was affected during this period on account of festivals such as Onam and Raksha Bandhan.

India registered slightly more than 2.2 lakh new COVID-19 cases in the week of August 16-22, dropping from 2,55,819 cases in the previous week. This represents the first double-digit drop in weekly COVID cases since the week from June 28-July 4, when the cases had shown a drop of 11.4%. Sunday saw new cases declining to a 166-day low with about 22,500 cases. A day after Onam, Kerala recorded 10,402 new cases. This was the state’s lowest daily count in over a month since it recorded 9,931 cases on July 19.

During the week from August 16-22, Kerala was among the other major Covid-affected states, including Maharashtra, Odisha,Tamil Nadu, and Karnataka that reported a decline in the number of cases compared to the previous week. However, testing had been impacted in Kerala due to festivities and the daily positivity rate climbed to more than 16% in the past few days. States in the northern have recorded a very low number of new cases during the current week. The surge in infections in Himachal Pradesh, recorded over the past two weeks, started showing a decline in the past seven days.

Fatalities are also coming down gradually in the country. The current week saw 3,111 deaths, with a fall of 6.7% from last week’s figure of 3,334. Maharashtra, Kerala and Odisha registered the highest number of fatalities during the week.

Source: ET Healthworld