India’s weekly Covid-19 cases up 41%, but no rise in deaths

NEW DELHI: Covid-19 infections continued to inch up in India for the third week running but, crucially, there was no increase in deaths in the week ending Sunday.

India reported over 22,200 fresh Covid cases in the week (April 25-May 1), up 41% from the previous week’s tally of nearly 15,800. Last week, cases had seen a 96% surge. Delhi, Haryana and UP accounted for 68% of all new cases.

Importantly, deaths from the virus were not rising. While Sunday's data from a few states was awaited at the time of writing, the week's Covid toll was expected to be around 30. The toll last week was 29, and 27 in the preceding week. These figures don’t include fatalities from earlier months added to the tally during this period.

Fresh cases of Covid-19 registered a rise in 20 states/Union territories in the week ending Sunday, indicating that infections were continuing to spread in the country.

On the positive side, the numbers were still relatively low and most of the states reporting a rise in infections continued to clock less than 1,000 new cases per week.

Delhi continued to lead other states in the number of cases reported. The capital logged 9,684 fresh cases during the week, an 53% rise from the previous week's count of 6,326. While Delhi accounted for 43% of all new



cases detected in the country during the period, data suggests the spike in the capital was slowing down. In the previous week, cases had spiked by 174%.

The National Capital Region remained the epicentre of fresh Covid cases. Weekly cases were on the rise in both Haryana and Uttar Pradesh, where most NCR cities are situated. Haryana clocked 3,695 new cases, up 61% from 2,296 in the previous week while UP's tally was 1,736, a rise of 36% from 1,278 in the preceding seven days.

Kerala continued to report more than 2,000 cases (Sunday's numbers yet to come in) in the week but the rise in infections was clearly slowing down. For the first time in many months, Kerala hadn't reported any new death during the week till Saturday.

Covid cases appeared to be flattening in Maharashtra as well. The state recorded 1,060 fresh infections during the week, up marginally from 996 last week.

The highest percentage rise in cases were reported from states that were clocking relatively fewer numbers. Rajasthan logged a 155% increase in weekly cases, with the tally increasing from 141 last week to 360. Similarly, numbers in Madhya Pradesh rose by 132%, going from 74 to 172.

Other major states where Covid cases continued to increase included Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Bengal, Telangana, Punjab and Uttarakhand.