Covid cases at 1L after 63 days

Positivity rate at 4.3%; Active cases at 14L

In a welcome relief, India on Sunday reported one lakh fresh Covid cases, the lowest in the last 63 days, as the test-positivity ratio fell below five per cent.

According to data collated by Covid19india.org, the country has reported

1,00,866 new cases of Coronavirus infection. Of this, the top five worst-hit states like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh account for nearly 70 per cent of the total cases.

Previously, the country had reported one lakh daily infections on April 5. The daily cases, subsequently, rose unhindered every day to reach the peak of nearly 4.2 lakh cases on May 7.

From the one-lakh mark on April 5, the cases hit the peak of nearly 4.2 lakh cases in 33 days. It also took 30 days for infections to crawl back to one lakh from the peak.

In 2020, the first wave of Covid peaked at 97,894 cases on September 16. The infections gradually declined over the next four months to fall below 10,000.

The death toll from Covid-19 climbed to 3,49,221 with 2,436 new fatalities, while the number of active cases was less than 14 lakh on Sunday.

With the decline in daily Covid-19 cases, pandemic induced restrictions are set to be lifted gradually in a phased manner in many states from Monday.

However, in anticipation of a third wave, many other states have proposed to continue with restrictions till June 14. While Tamil Nadu and Karnataka have extended the lockdown by a week, Himachal Pradesh and Goa have extended corona curfews.

Haryana and Sikkim were the latest to extend lockdown from Monday but have eased some curbs like several other states, including Maharashtra, that have announced cautious steps towards restarting or scaling up activities after over a month following a decline in Covid cases.

Delhi, which reported 381 new Covid-19 cases on Sunday and a daily positivity rate of 0.50 per cent, is preparing to unlock from Monday. It will see reopening of markets and malls and resumption of Metro services, while Maharashtra will implement a five-level plan to ease curbs based on weekly positivity rate and occupancy of oxygen beds.