India sees slight drop in COVID-19 cases

By Ahmad Adil

CHANDIGARH, India (AA) - India’s daily coronavirus cases slightly decreased as compared to the first half of last month, when the country recorded around 90,000 cases daily for several days.

On Monday, according to the Indian Health Ministry update, 74,442 new cases were registered, taking the total number to 6.6 million.

The death toll also reached 102,685 after 903 more deaths were recorded in the last 24 hours.

In Sept. 1-20 period, India recorded around 90,000 cases daily for many days. But, from Sept. 21 to Oct. 5, the country recorded cases ranged from minimum 70,589 to the highest 88,600 cases.

A statement by the Indian government Monday said that for two straight weeks, the active cases are less than 1 million in the country. “India has crossed a landmark milestone. The active cases have been maintained below the 10 lakh [1 million] mark for 14 days unabated,” said the statement.

The ministry on Sunday said India has scaled new peaks in the COVID-19 testing, conducting one million tests daily across the country for consecutive two days.

According to John Hopkins University, India is ranked second in coronavirus cases and third in number of deaths globally.

India last week issued new guidelines for opening up of more activities in the country. As per the new guidelines, movie theaters will open with up to 50% of their seating capacity from Oct. 15.

Experts in the country feared India may even surpass the US -- the worst-affected country worldwide -- in the severity of the pandemic.

The number of cases worldwide totals over 35.1 million and fatalities just over 1.03 million in 188 countries and regions, according to the latest figures from the US-based Johns Hopkins University. More than 24 million people have recovered so far.