Updated: October 4, 2020 12:04:20 pm
A healthcare worker sorts samples for COVID-19 testing at the Pusa Institute in New Delhi on Saturday, October 3, 2020 (Express photo by Amit Mehra).
The number of new detections of coronavirus infections in India dropped further on Saturday. Fewer than 76,000 people tested positive on Saturday, about 3,000 fewer than Friday, which in itself was the lowest in a month that had not been caused by low tests. Follow LIVE updates of the coronavirus pandemic
The last few days have produced very interesting figures, for which there does not seem to be a good explanation available at this time. New detections have been significantly reduced, but not due to a significant reduction in the number of tests. The number of samples being tested across the country is roughly the same as in the second and third weeks of September, when more than 90,000 cases were reported every day. And yet, in the last week, fewer than 80,000 new cases have been discovered each day on average.
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That would seem like a very welcome development, but what exactly is driving this decline is unclear. People’s movement and interactions would have only increased, not decreased, during this time. Anecdotal evidence would suggest that the adoption of face masks and adherence to physical distancing measures are far from universal. And the prevalence of the disease in the community, as measured by the results of the sero-survey, does not indicate that it has reached levels from which the epidemic would be expected to begin to decline.
| State | Total cases | New cases | Total recoveries | Deceased |
| Maharashtra | 1,430,861 | 14,348 | 1,134,555 | 38,198 |
| Andhra Pradesh | 713,014 | 6,224 | 651,791 | 5,941 |
| Karnataka | 630,516 | 9,886 | 508,495 | 9,238 |
| Tamil nadu | 614,507 | 5,622 | 558,534 | 9,718 |
| Uttar Pradesh | 410,626 | 3,631 | 356,826 | 5,977 |
| Delhi | 287,930 | 2,258 | 257,224 | 5,472 |
| west bengal | 266,974 | 3,340 | 234,712 | 5,132 |
| Odisha | 229,337 | 3,003 | 198,194 | 945 |
| Kerala | 221,333 | 7,834 | 139,620 | 847 |
| Telangana | 199,276 | 1,949 | 170,212 | 1,163 |
Since the test numbers have also held steady, there is no obvious reason for the declining numbers. And it’s not a day or two of aberration either, but it has persisted long enough to be considered a trend. In fact, it’s a full month without a major spike in the numbers, the longest period of relative stability in the epidemic in India so far.
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As a result of this decline in daily figures, the growth rate has slowed rapidly in recent days. As of now, coronavirus cases in India are growing at just 1.28 percent per day. Several states, including Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Bihar, have seen their growth rates drop below one percent per day.
In fact, there are only five states, including those with a relatively small number of cases, which are growing at more than two percent right now. The most troubled state is obviously Kerala at the moment, where the growth rate is over 4 percent a day. As of Friday, the state had reported more than 9,200 new cases, its highest level to date. It fell below 8,000 on Saturday. The state has added more than 53,000 new cases in the last week, more than any other state except Maharashtra and Karnataka.
Covid-19 cases from India.
The case count in Pune has exceeded 3 lakh of cases now. The city has more cases than most states. Only five states have a higher number of cases. New detections in Pune have also shown a significant decline, although the city still reports between 2,000 and 3,000 cases per day. But considering that a couple of weeks ago more than 5,000 cases emerged in the city, this is a huge improvement. Again, this decrease is not due to a significant reduction in the number of tests that are carried out.
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More than 82,000 people were said to have recovered from the disease on Saturday, higher than the new detections, causing a further drop in active cases. In the last two weeks, active cases in the country have dropped by about 80,000.
The total number of confirmed infections in the country has reached 65.49 lakhs, of which more than 55 lakhs, or around 84 percent, have already recovered from the disease. The death count is over 1.1 lakh now.
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