3 weeks of China scare, no Covid rise in India

There has been no trace of an increase in infections in India for nearly three weeks after health authorities there increased surveillance in response to a significant COVID-19 outbreak in China. After two weeks of a modest increase, fresh cases in India saw a slight reduction in the week that ended on Sunday, but total numbers remained incredibly low.

India reported 1,268 new cases over the course of the week as opposed to 1,526 the week before. In the previous six weeks, there were 1,526 cases, which is below the 2,000 mark now. For the past six weeks, the number of cases has stayed below 2,000. Karnataka, whose new cases had more than doubled the previous week, has recently recorded a reduction, according to TOI's COVID database.

Compared to six the week before, there were 12 COVID fatalities nationwide. Since the second week of November, the number of weekly virus-related deaths has remained below 50.

Despite a decline in case counts in the state, Kerala continued to record the greatest number of cases and deaths. 383 cases were found in the state over the past week (January 2–8), down from 467 over the previous seven days. During the week, Kerala recorded seven COVID fatalities.

225 new illnesses were reported in Karnataka, down from 276 the week prior. The state has seen a substantial surge in cases that week (December 26–January 1), from 116 in the seven days prior. 132 cases were reported in Maharashtra, down from 168 the week prior. Delhi had a drop in case numbers as well, from 81 to 48 in one week.

Since July 2022, when the weekly count reached a peak of 1.36 lakh, India has not experienced a significant increase in COVID cases.

Although the real image of COVID in China might not be represented in its official numbers, the number of cases worldwide has now been declining for the past two to three weeks. According to worldometers.info, Japan continued to record the most new cases in the past seven days with about 1.2 million, up 14% from the week before. China ranked 11th on the list with just under 54,000 cases, up 52% in a week, while South Korea had the second-highest number of cases for the week with over 400,000.