India Witnesses Significant Decline in Weekly COVID-19 Cases; Active Cases Drop Below 3,000

India has reported 272 new cases of COVID-19, marking a decrease in the number of active cases to 2,990, as per the latest update from the health ministry on Monday. No new deaths were reported in the past 24 hours. After a five-week upward trend, the country witnessed a significant 25% decline in COVID-19 cases for the week ending Saturday compared to the preceding seven days. The reported deaths also decreased to 22, down from 31 in the previous week.

During the week of January 7-13, India recorded 3,623 fresh cases, contrasting with 4,862 cases in the prior week. Most major states reported a decrease in infections, except for Bengal and Gujarat, where numbers showed an upward trend.

Daily cases had dropped to double digits until December 5, 2023, but saw an increase due to the emergence of a new variant and cold weather conditions. On December 31, 2023, a single-day rise of 841 new cases was reported, constituting 0.2% of the peak cases observed in May 2021. Approximately 92% of the total active cases are under home isolation. Official sources state that the JN.1 variant is not causing an exponential rise in new cases or a surge in hospitalization and mortality.

India has faced three waves of COVID-19, with the Delta wave reaching its peak in April-June 2021, reporting 4,14,188 new cases and 3,915 deaths on May 7, 2021. Since the beginning of the pandemic in early 2020, over 4.5 crore people have been infected, resulting in over 5.3 lakh deaths across the country. The number of recoveries stands at over 4.4 crore, achieving a national recovery rate of 98.81%. The ministry's website reports the administration of 220.67 crore doses of COVID-19 vaccines in the country.