India registered the sharpest percentage decline in weekly COVID-19 cases in around two months as cases dropped by 13.6% in the week ending Sunday. However, testing had been affected during this period owing to festivals such as Onam and Raksha Bandhan.

India registered slightly more than 2.2 lakh new COVID cases in the week from August 16-22, declining from 2,55,819 cases in the previous week. This represents the first double-digit drop in weekly cases since the week of June 28-July 4, when the cases had shown a decline by 11.4%. During the week from August 16-22, Kerala was one among the other major COVID-affected states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Odisha, to register a drop in the number of cases compared to the previous week. States in the northern also reported a very low number of new cases during the week… (ET Healthworld – TNN, August 23, 2021)