At 689 Covid deaths, daily count lowest in 79 days

Fresh Covid-19 infections in India went up marginally on Wednesday but stayed below the 70,000-mark for the fourth consecutive day even as the daily casualties at 689 were the lowest in 79 days. Active cases went down by more than 16,000 to 8,12,739, sliding for the 13th consecutive day in a row.

The 689 casualties that India recorded on Wednesday were the lowest since July 27 when 683 deaths were recorded. Just two days ago, India had recorded the second lowest casualties, 696, during the 79-day period. Active cases went down sharply in most states as discharges outstripped fresh infections.

In the worst affected state of Maharashtra, active cases dropped below 2 lakhs for the first time in 42 days as discharges on Wednesday were nearly double that of the new cases. The total discharges in the state climbed to 13.1 lakh and the rate of recovering showed a steady rise to 84.7%. Though the state reported a rise in fresh cases on Wednesday at 10,552, after remaining below the 10,000-mark for two consecutive days, the casualties remained below 200 for the third straight day at 158.

In Madhya Pradesh, the Covid-19 count shot up by 5,515, the highest by far in the state. However, of these, 4,469 were old cases that had apparently gone unreported in the state records.

In Gujarat, with new cases staying lower than the number of discharged patients for the fourth day in a row, the share of active cases dropped below 15,000 after two months. As of Wednesday evening, Gujarat had 14,959 active cases which translated to 9.6% of total 1,55,098 cases.

Bengal recorded its highest peak with 3677 cases on Wednesday and Karnatakarecorded the second highest infections in the country — 9,265.

After staying low for 18 days, Bengal’s positivity rate has again risen to 8%. It had slipped below the 8% mark on September 26 for the first time in eight weeks.

In Kerala, which had recorded the highest fresh cases in the country on Tuesday at 8,764, infections dropped to 6,244. Active cases have dropped by nearly 1,500 in the last 24 hours.