First in 6 mths: Daily cases below 20,000; 4 more +ve for UK strain

Delhi: In what will bring cheer on New Year day, India's average daily tally of fresh Covid-19 cases fell below the 20,000 mark on Friday for the first time since July 2.

The seven-day rolling average of daily cases stood at 19,545 on Friday, a day when a little more than 19,200 new infections were recorded in the country.

The seven-day rolling average on any particular day is the average of cases recorded on that day and the previous six days. The index was last below the 20,000 mark on July 2, nearly six months ago, when it stood at 19,615.

The average had peaked at 93,735 on September 17 last year, a day when the highest number of daily cases were also reported (98,795). The index is currently at less than a fourth of the peak.

India also reported 220 deaths from the virus on Friday (with numbers from Assam, Meghalaya and Nagaland yet to come in till midnight). This was the lowest single-day death toll in the country since June 2 and the first time the number had dropped below 250 since that day. There were 219 fatalities reported on June 2.

Just three states reported fresh cases in four figures on Friday. Kerala continued to report the highest count of cases with an addition of 4,991. Maharashtra had the second highest tally at 3,524, followed by Bengal (1,153) and Chhattisgarh (932). The country’s total caseload stood at 1,03,06,561.

Maharashtra again recorded the highest number of deaths (59), followed by Bengal (26), Kerala (23) and Delhi (21). The country’s cumulative toll rose to 149,197.

Meanwhile, the Union health ministry said four more people tested positive for the new UK variant, taking the tally to 29.