India could be at a turning point in its life and death battle against Covid-19 with a steady fall in the number of cases combining with the government’s ambitious plans to roll out vaccines at high speed. Virologists say the declining case trajectory may reflect herd immunity taking hold in localised areas of the country. Daily new Covid-19 cases in the country have been riding below 20,000 for a number of days and on Monday stood at 16,504. That’s more than six times below the peak hit on September 16 when fresh cases hit 97,784. It was widely forecast in mid-September that India was about to crack a dismal milestone of a record 100,0000 fresh cases a day. Instead, the number of daily cases began slipping. “You can’t miss the trend. I think we have turned a corner,” says virologist Shahid Jameel.