A sudden drop in the number of active cases of COVID-19 in the country has raised some hope among the health fraternity, albeit with a caution that the country must observe this trend for at least two weeks before we conclude that the COVID-19 plateau is over and the downward trend is for real in the country.

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On September 29, India registered a significant drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases. According to the Union Health Ministry, the number of new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours was 70,589 (the country has been recording over 80,000 cases over the last few days). The country has witnessed 61 lakh cases to date. As of September 29, there are 9,47,576 active cases, while 51,01,398 patients have been cured or discharged from hospitals and 96,318 people have died.

There is also a window of doubt here as the country has witnessed a drop on Mondays for a couple of weeks (it may be owing to low testing and thin turnout on Sundays). However, health experts on September 29 said that this declining number is a ray of hope but the same trend should be observed for at least two weeks. According to Navneet Sood, a Pulmonology Consultant at Dharamshila Narayana Superspeciality Hospital in New Delhi, the authorities must focus on the factors leading to this trend. "At the same time, this decline should continue for at least two upcoming weeks and only then, we can have some idea about the success we are on the way to achieve," Sood told IANS. "This infection spread so fast that in a couple of months, it has changed the entire lifestyle of humanity. We have a long way to go hence this drop should be taken as a success but a challenge to maintain for days to come," he added.

On September 29, India registered another drop in the number of new COVID-19 cases. According to the Union health ministry, the number of new COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours was 70,589. The country has been recording over 80,000 cases over the last few days. The country has recorded 61 lakh cases so far. As of September 29, there were 9,47,576 active cases, while 51,01,398 patients were cured or discharged from hospitals and 96,318 people died.

Total recoveries from COVID-19 in India crossed the 50 lakh milestone on September 28 with recovered cases outpacing active cases by more than five times, the ministry said. The rise in the number of total recovered cases from 1 lakh in June 2020 has been steep and the last 10 lakh recoveries were added in just 11 days, they added.

Jyoti Mutta, Senior Consultant, Microbiology, Sri Balaji Action Medical Institute, told IANS: "Although this steady decline in numbers should make us hopeful, the same trend should continue for at least 15 days or a month. Only then, we can say whether the plateau has been achieved or not." She said that healthcare workers are working tirelessly, people are taking precautions and the number of testing has also increased. "Further, more testing should be encouraged because it has a major role to play. By keeping the daily test rate high will we be able to track and trace the true figures," Mutta stressed.

According to Praveen Gupta, Director and Head, Neurology, Fortis Memorial Research Institute, Gurugram, they have seen a drop in cases in Delhi which is very heartening. "But we had a similar occurrence a month back when the cases had dropped below 1,000 but they increased to as high as 4,000 cases a day now," Gupta said. "We should be very cautious and continue with precautions because as the public transport and other public places are opening up, the risk of infections remains high".