India’s third wave of COVID-19 cases seems to have started ebbing, as new cases at the national level have shown a decline over the past week. This is the first time that a trend reversal has been seen since the start of the Omicron surge.

Experts opine that if these trends continue, it would be a critical development. The country registered 233,779 fresh infections on Friday, which was the lowest figure in 17 days, as per HT’s COVID-19 dashboard. Except for a slight surge on Tuesday, daily cases have almost declined every day since January 20, when 350,000 cases were recorded. The seven-day average of daily cases in the country reached 312,180 cases a day for the week ending Tuesday, representing the highest number thus far in the third wave. This declined to 279,100 for the week ending Friday, with a drop of nearly 10%... (HT, January 29, 2022)