India has reported more recovery than fresh cases of Covid-19 in the past three weeks. This is the first sustained decline in the number of active Covid-19 cases in India. September 17, according to data on Covid19india.org, is the turnaround date. India has seen only five days of increase in Covid-19 cases since then (as of October 8).
On month-on-month basis, (September 8-October 8), the number of active Covid-19 cases has reduced by almost 4,000. The maximum caseload was on September 17, when India had over 10.17 lakh active Covid-19 cases. It came down below 10 lakh on September 21 and now it is less than 9 lakh.
A declining in active Covid-19 cases is important as it is the actual volume of pressure on the country’s healthcare system. A total of 23 states and Union Territories have shown decline in active Covid-19 cases in the past two weeks.
However, despite the overall sign of amelioration, some states are showing signs of acute distress in Covid-19 situation. Kerala, with high literacy and possibly the best public healthcare system in the country, has emerged as the latest Covid-19 hotspot in India.
Month-on-month basis, active Covid-19 cases in Kerala have jumped almost four times – from 23,200 to 90,500. Surprisingly, the spike became sharper around the same time (September 17) when the national figures showed declining trend.
Currently, eight districts of Kerala feature in the 10 districts across India with the worst spikes in the last 7-10 days. Some experts have attributed it to the highest testing rate in the country – over 1,600 per million people. National Covid-19 testing rate is 865 per million people a day.
Chhattisgarh had emerged as another worrying spot. But it has shown marked decline in the number of cases and increase in recoveries in the last few days.
Though on monthly basis, Chhattisgarh has about 500 more active cases now than a month ago. It recorded its first spike in active Covid-19 cases in October on Thursday.
Incidentally, Kerala and Chhattisgarh are the only two states with at least 10,000 Covid-19 cases in India with a recovery rate of below 80 per cent.
Overall, India has achieved a recovery rate of over 85 per cent. Covid-19 fatality rate has dropped to 1.54 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Friday. This translates into the active caseload due to Covid-19 at little over 13 per cent.
India currently is the second worst affected country due to Covid-19. As on Friday morning, the Covid-19 caseload stood at over 69 lakh in India, which saw a rise of 70,496 fresh coronavirus infections in the last 24 hours. Over 59 lakh Covid-19 patients have recovered from the illness.
A total of 1,06,490 Covid-19 patients lost their lives in India, 971 of them in the last 24 hours as on Friday morning.
Another positive news for India is that its Covid-19 positivity rate has been consistently declining. It currently stands at 8.19 per cent. Overall, 22 states and Union Territories have lower than national positivity rate.
Increasing recovery rate is the norm in any pandemic and it improves with the passage of time. But a declining active caseload also indicates that the pandemic is slowing down. If sustained for longer period, this is good news for the Indian economy that is struggling to stand on its feet once again.