India logged less than 1 lakh new COVID-19 infections in the week ending Sunday. This is the first time since mid-February, 2021 that the weekly case numbers had dropped below the 1-lakh-mark.

The country registered slightly more than 96,500 cases during the week of October 25-31, registering a decline of 11% from the total number in the previous week. Last week, the COVID cases had remained flat, with a fall of just 1%.

In mid-February, less than 90,000 cases were recorded in the week of February 15-21. The decline in the case numbers this week was largely attributed to the drop in cases in Kerala, Maharashtra and other southern states. Maharashtra recorded a decline of 23%, with 8,633 new cases compared to 11,264 cases last week. Weekly cases in the state have dropped to less than 10,000 for the first time since the initial months of the pandemic.

Kerala recorded a drop of around 13% since last week, registering 53,326 fresh cases… (ET Healthworld – TNN, November 1, 2021)