NEW DELHI — India has registered 48,268 new confirmed coronavirus cases in the past 24 hours, continuing a downward trend.

The Health Ministry on Saturday also reported 551 additional deaths, taking total fatalities up to 121,641. The figure raises the country’s total virus tally to over 8.1 million, behind only the U.S. Over 7.4 million people have recovered.

The slowdown in daily infections has held for more than a month with fewer than 60,000 cases for nearly two weeks. Some experts say the trend suggests the virus may have finally reached a plateau in India but others question the testing methods and warn a major festival due in a few weeks and the winter season could result in a new surge.

The capital of New Delhi, which recently became the worst-hit city in India, is already witnessing high air pollution levels, making the coronavirus fight more complicated in months ahead.