The country reported just over 2.2 lakh fresh cases in the week (August 16-22), down from 2,55,819 in the previous seven days. This was the first double-digit fall in weekly cases since the June 28-July 4 week, when the number had dipped by 11.4%.
Meanwhile, on Sunday, fresh cases dipped to a 166-day low of just around 22,500. A day after Onam, Kerala posted 10,402 new cases – its lowest daily tally in more than a month since 9,931 infections were detected on July 19.
During the August 16-22 week, Kerala was among other major Covid-hit states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Odisha to report a dip in the number of cases as compared to the previous seven days. However, with testing affected in Kerala due to festivities, the daily positivity rate in the state has climbed to over 16% in the past few days.
Meanwhile, the northern states continued to report a very low number of new cases through the week.
The spike in infections in Himachal Pradesh, seen in the past two weeks, started to decline in the last seven days.
The pandemic also continued to recede in the northeast, which had seen several weeks of surging numbers till earlier this month.
Deaths due to the coronavirus continued to decline gradually in the country. In the current week, 3,111 fatalities were recorded, a drop of 6.7% from last week’s toll of 3,334. Maharashtra, Kerala and Odisha, in that order, reported the highest number of deaths during the week.