The death toll has not shown a significant movement in the last four weeks and continues to hover around the 3,500 mark, with 3,539 deaths recorded during the week (Nov. 29-Dec. 6). However, compared to the peak of 8,175 deaths recorded between September 13-20, Covid-related deaths have dropped by 58%.
2.45,599 new cases were reported this week, up from 2.91,903 last week (November 22-29). The weekly case count had also been around the 2.9 lakh mark in the previous two weeks. This week’s cases, therefore, represent the first big drop in numbers in four weeks.
The drop, which comes in the third week after Diwali, also shows that there is still no second wave of Covid in the country, although there have been peaks and troughs in several states. Overall, weekly cases in the country have been declining for 12 weeks, except for one week when there was a slight increase.
Meanwhile, active cases in the country fell below 4 lakh for the first time in 139 days. The pool of active cases has been steadily shrinking since the peak of the pandemic in September.
However, the rate of reduction in active cases has slowed considerably in recent weeks, and the count has also increased for a few days. It took 26 days for active cases to drop from 5 lakh to 4 lakh. In contrast, the drop from 6 lakh to 5 lakh had taken 12 days, and the previous two drops of one lakh had each occurred within a week.
On Sunday, new cases in the country fell to 33,231 after staying at the 34,000-36,000 level in the previous four days. The day’s death toll also fell to 391, which was the first time since July 2 that India recorded fewer than 400 Covid deaths in one day.
The drop in the death toll was mainly due to Maharashtra registering 40 fatalities on Sunday, a big drop from the previous day’s 95 count. Delhi also reported a slight drop in deaths, from 77 on Saturday to 69 on Sunday.
.
