The third wave of Covid-19 in India has ended, going by the weekly case numbers. Not just that, the case tally reveals that the pandemic is currently at its lowest point in the country in nearly two years, that is, since the middle of May 2020.
India recorded less than 43,000 fresh Covid cases in the week ending Sunday (February 28-March 6). This was not just lower than the number recorded in the week prior to the start of the third wave — 46,073 cases in December 20-26, 2021 — but the lowest in 22 months since May 18-24, 2020, when a tally of 40,490 was reported, as per TOI’s Covid database.
Week on week, Covid cases have dipped by more than half in each of the last four weeks. India had reported 86,097 new cases in the previous week (February 21-27). The corresponding numbers in the earlier weeks were 1.7 lakh, 3.9 lakh and 9.7 lakh, respectively. This was, by far, the sharpest drop in cases since the pandemic began.
Deaths too have been declining sharply. The country reported just 626 fatalities from the virus in the current week, the lowest weekly toll since 495 deaths were recorded in the New Year week (December 27-January 2). These numbers exclude deaths from earlier months added to the toll during this period. Last week (February 21-27), 1,074 deaths were reported while the toll in previous week was 1,899. In the third wave, Covid deaths had peaked at 4,355 in the January 31-February 6 week.
If all deaths reported during the period are included, the current week’s Covid toll stood at 1,264, the lowest since March 15-21, 2021, when 1,239 fatalities were recorded.
On Sunday, India logged less than 4,500 fresh cases, the lowest daily count since May 15, 2020. The day’s death toll was 52, the fewest since April 25, 2020.
Active cases of the virus too were close to a two-year low. On Sunday, there were just around 55,500 active cases in India, the lowest count since May 15, 2020.
