Coronavirus outbreak: India records 67,151 COVID-19 cases in last 24 hours; Reports 1,059 deaths

New Delhi, Aug 26: 67,151 new cases, 1,059 deaths take India's COVID-19 caseload to 32,34,474 and toll to 59,449, the heath ministry said. While the government also said that with positivity rate progressively falling, testing has worked as an effective tool to limit the spread of COVID-19 infection.

Of the 1,059 fresh deaths, the maximum deaths were reported from Maharashtra at 329, followed by Karnataka (148) and Tamil Nadu (107).

According to the data from the health ministry, the COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) is below 2 per cent and are trying to bring it down to under 1 per cent.

"The COVID-19 mortality rate in the country is among the lowest in the world. India has managed the viral outbreak well so far," Rajesh Bhushan, Union health secretary said during Tuesday's briefing on the pandemic.

So far, India has reported 3,229,351 COVID-19 cases so far, including 66,781 fresh ones on Tuesday.

While 64,562 COVID-19 patients recovered from their viral infection on Tuesday and the total recoveries stand at 2,465,081.

"The active caseload is only about 22.24 per cent of the total positive cases; and the overall recoveries have crossed the 75 per cent mark," said Bhushan.

Though the novel coronavirus tests have increased exponentially, there has been a steady decline in the positivity rate.

Bhushan highlighted that the number of COVID-19 active cases reduced by 6,423 for the first time within a span of 24 hours.

"While the tests for detection of COVID-19 have increased exponentially, there has been a steady decline in the positivity rate. For the first time, active cases of COVID-19 have reduced by 6,423 within a span of 24 hours," he said.

The ministry data also underlined the aggressive testing mechanism. It has increased from 363 tests per million population per day on August 1 to over 600 at present.