Caseload 4-week low, India turns the corner

| | New Delhi
  • 0

Caseload 4-week low, India turns the corner

Tuesday, 18 May 2021 | PNS | New Delhi

Caseload 4-week low, India turns the corner

Nation sees lowest Covid count in 25 days in last 24 hrs

The country’s Covid-19 caseload saw a major dip on Monday hitting a four-week low as Maharashtra, Delhi, Kerala and Uttar Pradesh recorded major decline in number of cases and overall situation looked promising for the first time in months.

On Monday, India recorded 2,62,891 cases and 4,334 deaths which is  the lowest single-day count since April 19 when the country recorded 2.57 lakh cases in 24 hours.

Of course, the Monday number also reflects the impact of lower testing at the weekend, but  the fact that positive rate is beginning to count  down  gives an undeniable impression that India may have peaked out  and now there will be a painful process of plateauing.

Even on Sunday, the daily cases dropped below the 3-lakh mark — 2,81,386 to be precise  —for the first time in nearly a month. This was the lowest count  in 25 days.

On May 12, India recorded 4,205 fresh Covid deaths,  while on May 7, the country had recorded its highest ever cases of 4,14,188.

In a substantial drop in both Covid-19 fatalities and infections in Maharashtra on Monday, the cases dropped to 26,616, while the daily deaths came down to 516 on Monday, in what came as a big relief to the State authorities. 

A day after Maharashtra logged a staggering 974 and 34,389 new cases, the situation in the State improved as the infections dropped by 7,773 cases, while the daily deaths came down by a substantial 458.

With 516 new deaths, the total number of deaths in the State climbed from 81,486 to 82486.  Similarly, with 26,616  new infections, the total number of cases climbed from 53,78,452 to 5405068.

India's Covid-19 tally crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7 last year, the 30-lakh mark on August 23, the 40-lakh mark on September 5 and the 50-lakh mark on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20 and the one-crore mark on December 19 last year.

The figure crossed the grim milestone of two crore on May 4.

According to the Ministry, a total of 3,78,741 people have been discharged in the last 24 hours, with 2,11,74,076 being cured from Covid till date. According to ICMR, 31,64,23,658 samples have been tested up to May 14 with 15,73,515 samples being tested on Friday.

In Uttar Pradesh, for the first time since mid-April, the number of fresh cases dropped below the 10,000-mark as active cases also showed a sharp decline by 52 per cent while the recovery during the same period was almost 14,000 more than the fresh cases reported on Sunday.

UP recorded 9,391 cases, a sharp slide from 10,682 on Saturday, even as the State conducted a total of 2,55,110 tests in the last 24 hours. The State saw a whopping 23,045 recoveries.

However, the situation was not so encouraging in Tamil Nadu. While neighbouring Kerala has succeeded in bringing down the Covid-19 cases considerably, the number of new persons getting diagnosed with the pandemic is increasing on a daily basis.

On Monday, Tamil Nadu logged 33,075 new Covid -19 patients across the State while 335 persons succumbed to the pandemic during the last 24 hours, according to the release by the directorate of health and preventive medicine.

There were 2.31 lakh Covid patients across the State as on Monday evening, said the release. But the State held more than 1.49 lakh RT-PCR tests on Monday while the corresponding figure for Kerala   was 86,505 samples.

In Kerala, Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said on Monday the total lock- down has started yielding results as the number of new Covid-19 cases has come down in the last 24 hours.

"Though we tested 86,505 samples on Monday, there were only 21,402 persons who tested positive. Similarly, there were only 85 deaths in the State," said Vijayan in his daily press briefing at Thiruvananthapuram.

Vijayan also disclosed that Kerala saw on Monday 99,651 persons getting cured of Covid-19 on a single day. He said the Test Positivity Rate too has come down on Monday and attributed it to the total lock down which was well received by the Government.

He said while the State had logged 37,144 new patients on an average during May 1 to 8, the figure came down after May 9 to 35, 919. "The results ate encouraging and we are confident that this achievement could be sustained," he said.

Sunday Edition

CAA PASSPORT TO FREEDOM

24 March 2024 | Kumar Chellappan | Agenda

CHENNAI EXPRESS IN GURUGRAM

24 March 2024 | Pawan Soni | Agenda

The Way of Bengal

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

The Pizza Philosopher

24 March 2024 | Shobori Ganguli | Agenda

Astroturf | Lord Shiva calls for all-inclusiveness

24 March 2024 | Bharat Bhushan Padmadeo | Agenda

Interconnected narrative l Forest conservation l Agriculture l Food security

24 March 2024 | BKP Sinha/ Arvind K jha | Agenda