AS the number of new Covid-19 cases in India reduced to its lowest level in eight months, a survey had found that about 50 per cent of residents in the Indian capital New Delhi have developed Covid-19 antibodies after being exposed to the infection.
Data from a government serological survey found that at such levels, the city of 20 million residents was moving towards herd immunity, whereby people become immune to the disease.
According to a report in NDTV, Delhi Health Minister Satyendar Jain said the survey detected antibodies in 56.13 per cent of the city's population.
He said it was the largest survey carried out in any state and involved around 28,000 samples taken from Jan 15 to 23.
Satyendar said that the last survey found only about 26 per cent with the antibodies.
"Cases are also declining at less than 200 per day and low positivity rates. But I would appeal not let your guard down," he said.
The Indian Express reported that government data showed 8,635 new coronavirus cases on Monday, India's lowest single day cases in nearly eight months.
This is the lowest number of new infections since June 1 last year. With more than 500,000 tests conducted on Sunday, this is the second consecutive Monday where the numbers have fallen below the 10,000 mark.
As many as 94 deaths were reported on Monday, the lowest since May 11.
India has reported more than 10.7 million infections since the first case was reported in the southern state of Kerala on Jan 30 last year.
Following the first case, the country reported few cases until April last year but from May onwards cases started rising and it peaked in mid-September with close to 100,000 cases daily.
However since October, India saw a drop in the number of new daily cases.
India now has about 160,000 active Covid-19 patients, the lowest since June last year.
Meanwhile, South China Morning Post said that in absolute numbers, India remains one of the worst-affected nations, with its total of more than 10.7 million Covid-19 cases placing it second only to the United States.
But given its population of 1.3 billion, this worked out to a per capita figure of around 110 fresh cases per million people in the last week of December.
This is low compared with 3,656 new cases per million in Britain and 3,964 in the US.
Indian health authorities are unsure why some of the early predictions of calamity have not come to pass but one explanation from public health experts is that Indians' immune systems are stronger.
The virus trajectory in India has baffled many as urban slums did not become houses of horror as some expected. Vast areas of the countryside have also not been ravaged.
In fact, some epidemiologists said the poor in densely populated slums have fared better than the affluent living in leafy seclusion.
It is believed that one of the reasons is people living in slums could have been exposed to multiple bacteria and viruses from childhood, owing to poor sanitation and they have been better able to handle the coronavirus.
Another is that the country has a relatively young population, with 65 per cent of the Indian population aged under 35.
Or, perhaps India is close to reaching herd immunity, something its densely crowded neighbourhoods might have helped it achieve faster than expected.
India has also started its immunisation programme on Jan 16, with authorities hoping to vaccinate some 300 million people by August this year.
It has so far vaccinated some 3.9 million people.