India still tests a middling number: 732 tests and 15.8 confirmed cases per million people, compared to the rest of the world. The testing numbers have fallen slightly in the past month, but the significant drop in recorded deaths suggests that, rather than experiencing a new peak in daily infections and deaths, India still remains in the “down phase” since the September peak. These serosurveys revealed a much higher number of undetected infections, many of them asymptomatic, before the September peak. This does not lessen the dangers of local outbreaks and the complications of the spread of new variants from abroad. The standard safety measures — mask wearing, hand hygiene, absence of crowding and renewed testing and tracing — must remain.

Source: The Hindu December 28, 2020 18:40 UTC