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India weekly Covid wrap: Tally below 50,000; lowest daily rise since second wave
The number of Covid-19 cases have been falling in India for the past few days. The country's tally reached 3,47,40,275 on Sunday after 7,081 fresh cases were reported. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 52 days now.
India has ben witnessing a continuous fall in the number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases. Though the new Omicron variant has left health experts and the government worried, the daily tally has been falling steadily.
And this is the first time in more than one and half years, that India’s weekly count of Covid-19 cases went below the 50,000-mark.
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According to World Health Organization (WHO), India recorded 49,765 cases in the week ending December 19. This is 7,490 – or 13.08 per cent – lower than the count of the previous week.
In the December 6-12 week, the WHO data shows that India recorded 57,255 case, while the number dropped to 49,765 in December 13-19 week. The highest number of cases (7,974) was recorded on December 16; in the preceding week, the highest count was recorded of 9,419 cases was recorded on December 9.
Another sigh of relief came this week when, according to WHO, India registered 5,784 cases - lowest single day increase after second wave.
Before this, the country recorded less than 50,000 cases in 2020 – the May 25-31 week – when the number stood at 48,858.
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A major contributor in India’s daily caseload is Kerala, which saw a spike in the number of cases in the past few weeks. However, the infection spread is going down in the southern state, though the numbers are still a concern for the central government.
The new heavily mutated Omicron variant has renewed concerns of a bigger surge than the Delta strain, which caused the devastating second wave of Covid-19 earlier this year.
So far, India has recorded 153 cases of Omicron, with the highest concentration in Maharashtra. This is followed by Delhi (22), Rajasthan (17) and Karnataka (14), Telangana (20), Gujarat (11), Kerala (11), Andhra Pradesh (1), Chandigarh (1), Tamil Nadu (1) and West Bengal (1).
While Omicron was first reported in South Africa on November 24, India's first two cases of the this fast-spreading version of the coronavirus were detected in Karnataka on December 2.
India's Covid-19 tally reached 3,47,40,275 on Sunday after 7,081 fresh cases were reported. The active cases declined to 83,913, the lowest in 570 days, according to Union health ministry.
The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been recorded below 15,000 for the last 52 days now.
The daily positivity rate was recorded at 0.58 per cent. It has been less than 2 per cent for last 76 days.
