Covid cases fall to 6-mth low of 8.2L in December

Amit Bhattacharya ,
TNN

Updated On Jan 1, 2021 at 05:48 AM IST

In a year blighted by the pandemic, there was cause for cautious optimism at the end as December recorded the lowest count of fresh Covid-19 cases in six months and the fewest deaths from the virus since the month of May.

Some 8,24,000 cases were detected in December, the lowest monthly tally since June and a 35% decline from the count in November. It was also the first time since June that the monthly count in India was below the 1-million mark. July was the first month when over a million infections were reported in India at 1.1 million.

Nearly 11,400 deaths from the pandemic were recorded in December, the lowest toll in seven months. The pandemic last claimed fewer lives in a month in May, when the toll was 4,267. In June, 11,988 fatalities were recorded, slightly higher than the December toll.

December was also the third straight month of falling cases & fatalities since the pandemic peaked in September.

Cases below 20k, toll 255 on last day of 2020

Daily cases kept declining through December, with no signs of a spike till date. The seven-day rolling average of daily cases had stood at 40,868 on November 30. On December 30, it had declined to nearly half that number to 20,507.

December was also the second month after October to record a decline in the seven-day average of daily cases for every single day of the month. With respect to November, December recorded a 35% fall in cases. This was the sharpest monthly drop recorded till date. Cases had fallen by 32% in November and by 29% in October.

India has so far recorded 1,02,87,267 cases of the coronavirus, the second highest in the world after the US. The toll from the viral infection stood at 1,48,976 till late on Thursday, as per data collated from states. India has the third highest toll from the pandemic after the US (3.5 lakh) and Brazil (1.9 lakh).

On Thursday, the last day of the year, 19,886 cases had been reported till close to midnight. The day’s death toll stood at 255. There were nearly 2.55 lakh active cases in India.