A steady decline in weekly COVID-19 positivity rate has been seen. (File)
A steady decline in new COVID-19 cases has been recorded in India for the last 20 days, with 24 states witnessing a dip in active cases since the last week, the Union health ministry said today.
It also noted that the country is on a downswing of the second wave of COVID-19.
"We are on a downswing of the second wave of COVID-19 and believe that it will be sustained even when restrictions are significantly relaxed," the ministry said.
"A steady decline in new COVID-19 cases has been recorded in India for the last 20 days. Twenty-four states have also reported decline in active COVID-19 cases since the last week," it said.
The ministry also said that while COVID-19 testing has increased manifold, a steady decline in weekly COVID-19 positivity rate has been seen since the last three weeks.
On possible adverse effects of taking the second dose of a different Covid vaccine, it said, "If second dose of a different Covid vaccine is taken, any significant adverse effect is unlikely, but we need more scrutiny and understanding in this regard."
The Centre also termed a recent report by the New York Times (NYT) on the estimated COVID-19 death count in India as "completely baseless and false".
"The NYT report is not backed by any evidence and based on distorted estimates," it added.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)