It took nearly 50 days for the active case count to come down from 4 lakh to 3 lakh.

After rising to 37.45 lakh at the peak of the second wave, India’s active case count has declined steadily since the middle of May, except for brief periods of sudden surges in Kerala. The rate of decline had, however, slowed considerably in the last few weeks. It took nearly 50 days for the active case count to come down from 4 lakh to 3 lakh.

Despite being at a six-month low, the current active case count is more than double the level it had fallen to before the start of the second wave in mid-February. Also, the fact that Kerala is still contributing over 15,000 cases a day, means India is still some distance away from the situation that prevailed in February.

At that time, the daily case count from the entire country had gone below 15,000. Currently, at least 25,000 cases are being recorded every day. On Sunday, 26,041 new cases were discovered across the country, of which 15,951 came from Kerala. Maharashtra contributed another 3,200 cases.

Also, the death count at that time had come down to double digits. As of now, more than 250 deaths are being recorded every day, nearly 60 per cent of which are coming from Kerala. But several states have been reporting zero Covid-19-related deaths now, many of them for days at a stretch.

Joe Biden gets COVID-19 booster shot after authorization

President Joe Biden receives a Covid-19 booster shot during an event in the South Court Auditorium on the White House campus. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)

President Joe Biden received his COVID-19 booster shot on Monday, days after federal regulators recommended a third dose of the Pfizer vaccine for Americans age 65 or older and approved them for others with preexisting medical conditions and high-risk work environments.

“The most important thing we need to do is get more people vaccinated,” Biden said before getting the booster, adding that he did not have side effects after his first or second shots.