India reports 30,948 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours, pushing the country’s case tally to 3,24,24,234. 403 people succumbed to the virus and the toll is at 4,34,367. Meanwhile, the active Covid caseload stands at 3,53,398. Stay with TOI for all updates
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%.
India saw its sharpest percentage fall in weekly Covid-19 cases in nearly two months with infections declining by 13.6% in the week ended Sunday, although testing was hit during this period due to festivals.
Ivermectin, an anti-parasitic drug commonly used for livestock, should not be taken to treat or prevent Covid-19, the Food and Drug Administration said on Saturday. The warning came a day after the Mississippi state department of health issued a similar statement in response to reports that an increasing number of people in Mississippi were using the drug to prevent a Covid infection. Some studies last year spurred use of the drug against Covid-19, especially in Latin America, and Fox News has promoted some of those studies’ findings on air.
India saw its sharpest percentage fall in weekly Covid-19 cases in nearly two months with infections declining by 13.6% in the week ended Sunday, although testing was hit during this period due to festivals.
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.
