Average daily Covid toll below 1,000 after 71 days

India’s average daily death toll from Covid-19 fell below the 1,000 mark on Friday after 71 days, not counting the fatalities from earlier periods that are being added to the overall tally every day.

The seven-day rolling average of daily deaths in the country declined to 983 on Friday, from 1,036 on the previous day. The average has been falling steadily since hitting a peak of 4,040 on May 16 in keeping with the fall in Covid-related fatalities as the second Covid wave continues to ebb.However, statistics on the death count have been complicated by “backlog” deaths being recorded, mainly by Maharashtra, every day since mid-May. If such “backlog” mortalities are counted in the daily numbers then the toll still goes over 1,000.