For the first time in the third wave of the pandemic, there was a decrease in the weekly Covid-19 cases in the country, though the deaths from the virus continued to rise. It showed a growth of 41% against the previous week′s toll.

India reported more than 3,770 new Covid deaths during the week, as compared to 2,680 Covid deaths in the previous seven days. If these fatalities were added to the official count of deaths from earlier periods added, India’s toll would be 5,203 during the current week. The daily death toll stayed over 550 for the third consecutive day, with 564 fatalities reported on Sunday. Data from two states was awaited till late Sunday night. 

India recorded over 17.5 lakh fresh cases during the week ending Sunday (January 24-30), as compared to nearly 21.7 lakh new cases, last week (January 17-23), which was the highest in the third wave. This strengthened the view that the third wave may have peaked at the national level, although some states continued to report increase in cases.

However, there was a 10% drop in testing during the current weekas compared to the previous seven days. Despite that, Indias test positivity rate in the week dipped to 15.68% as opposed to 17.28% in the previous week.

Source: ET Healthworld