India recorded over 2 lakh fresh cases of Covid-19 in the week ending Sunday, a 6.4% decline from the previous seven days and the lowest weekly count in nearly six months. Cases in Kerala saw a weekly fall of 8.7% while Maharashtra recorded a decrease of 6.8%. At the same time, cases rose by 8% in Mizoram and 3% in Tamil Nadu as compared with the previous week. Himachal Pradesh logged a rise of 15.9% and J&K 2.9%, while fresh infections in Bengal stayed at the same level as last week.

India logged nearly 2,00,500 new cases during the week (September 20-26), as compared with 2,14,221 last week. This was the fourth consecutive week of declining cases in the country, after infections rose for a week following a massive spike in Kerala. This week’s count was also the lowest since 1.55 lakh cases were recorded in March 29-April 4, when the second wave was building up in the country.

India also recorded the fewest deaths from the virus in six months since March 22-28, when the weekly toll was 1,875. The fall in Covid numbers was mainly on account of cases in Kerala dropping for the three week in succession as the post-Onam wave in the state continued to wane. However, in absolute terms, the numbers from Kerala remained high. The state recorded more than 1.21 lakh fresh cases, at a daily average of 17,346, accounting 60.6% of all new cases in the country during the week. The slow rise of Covid infections continued in Tamil Nadu for the third week running. The state logged 11,886 fresh cases, up marginally from 11,541 last week.