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 last week, the Union health ministry said on Thursday.

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 a decline in active Covid-19 cases since 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 a 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.”

In a major goof-up earlier this month, health workers in Uttar Pradesh's Siddharthnagar district administered Covaxin to 20 villagers who had been given Covishield in the first dose.

The incident has been reported from the primary health centre in Barhni where people from Audahi Kala and another village received Covaxin shots on May 14.

Accepting the shortcoming on the part of the health workers, the CMO said 20 people have been administered a mix-up of vaccines and the medical teams are keeping a close watch on them.

The Centre on Thursday also termed a recent report by the New York Times (NYT) on the estimated Covid-19 death toll in India as completely baseless and false .

The NYT report is not backed by any evidence and based on distorted estimates, it added.