Covid-19 updates: All you need to know about coronavirus right now

Besides the slight growth in the single-day coronavirus cases, another worrying trend could be noticed in the nature of the infection curve

Two months since the second wave peaked on May 9, 2021, the seven-day average of daily spikes and active Covid-19 cases are on a downward trend, but the pace has slowed while the positivity rate has risen in some states. The daily number of cases have been increasing since the past few days. On June 24, the seven-day-average of daily cases in India was 53,123 and on July 7 it declined to 42,547; however, on July 9 India reported 43,393, recording an increase.

Covid-19 positivity rate has also been rising steadily in 11 states and union territories (Money Sharma / AFP)

Besides the slight growth in the single-day cases, another worrying trend could be noticed in the nature of the infection curve, which changed about a month ago, as new cases started declining at a much slower rate. The seven-day average of new cases, which was declining at the rate of 6.7% on June 2, have started to go down at a much slower pace now, declining at the rate 0.96% on July 7. The rate of decline of active cases has similarly decreased from 5.23% on June 9 to 1.8% on July 7.

Similar patterns are being repeated in states like Kerala, which saw daily infections rise by 2,216 cases. The Union health ministry earmarked the states of Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Andhra Pradesh, as the top 5 states contributing the highest number of cases to India’s daily caseload.

Positivity rate has also been rising steadily in 11 states and union territories (UTs). 4 states registered a seven-day average of positivity rate higher than 10% on July 7. If the positivity rate continues to rise it would translate into a higher number of cases.