Weekly cases down first time in third wave; deaths up 41%

Weekly Covid-19 cases in the country fell for the first time in the third wave of the pandemic while deaths from the virus continued to rise, registering a growth of 41% against the previous week's toll. India recorded just over 17.5 lakh fresh cases during the week ending Sunday (January 24-30), down 19% from the preceding week, strengthening the view that the third wave may have peaked at the national level although some states may continue to report a surge in cases.

There was, however, a 10% drop in testing during the current week as compared to the previous seven days. Despite that, India's test positivity rate in the week dipped to 15.68% as opposed to 17.28% in the previous week.

Last week (January 17-23), the country had reported nearly 21.7 lakh new cases, the highest in the current surge. If nationwide cases do continue to fall in the coming days, the third wave would be by far the shortest yet, having peaked in just four weeks. Cases had started rising in the last week of December.

Covid deaths continue to rise although the overall numbers so far remain the lowest of the three waves.

India reported more than 3,770 new deaths during the week, up from 2,680 in the previous seven days.

These figures do not include deaths from earlier periods added to the official count. If these fatalities are added to the count, India's toll rose by 5,203 during the current week. The daily death toll stayed over 550 for the third day running, with 564 fatalities reported on Sunday. Data from two states was awaited till late Sunday night. More than 2.1 lakh were reported during the day, a dip from Saturday's tally of 2.34 lakh.