COVID-19: Less than 10 lakh active cases for 13th consecutive day in country

New Delhi, Oct 4: For the 13th day in an "unbroken string", India has maintained its steady trend of clocking less than 10 lakh active cases of COVID-19, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday. It also said that an average of 11.5 lakh tests for detection of coronavirus infection were done on a daily basis during the past ten days.

From merely one in January 2020, India's total tests for detection of COVID-19 have crossed 7.89 crore so far. There has been a commensurate dip in the COVID-19 positivity rate, it said.

"With progressively falling positivity rate, testing has worked as a highly effective tool to limit the spread of COVID-19 infection," the ministry highlighted. There are 9,37,625 active cases of COVID-19 as on date, which is 7,371 cases less than Saturday. India has posted high daily testing numbers on Thursday, Friday and Saturday with 10,97,947, 11,32,675 and 11,42,131 tests being conducted respectively.

"There has been an exponential rise in India's daily testing capacities. More than 15 lakhs tests can be conducted every day. "An average of 11.5 lakh tests were done on a daily basis during the past ten days," the ministry said.

Very high levels of testing lead to early identification, prompt isolation and effective treatment of COVID-19 cases. These have eventually resulted in a sustained low fatality rate which has dropped to 1.55 per cent. India's steady trend of posting high level of daily recoveries also continues with 82,260 recoveries being registered in a span of 24 hours in the country. In contrast, 75,829 new cases of COVID-19 have been reported.

The new recoveries have exceeded the new cases in the recent days. India's total recoveries crossed 55 lakh (55,09,966) on Sunday. Higher number of single-day recoveries is reflected in the continuous increase in the national recovery rate, which is at present 84.13 per cent.

The ministry said 75.44 per cent of the newly recovered cases are recorded in 10 states and UTs. Being the leading state with highest number of active cases, Maharashtra has also contributed the highest number to the newly recovered cases followed by Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh. Further 10 states and UTs account for 77.11 per cent of the active cases in the country.

As on date, the percent contribution of active cases to the COVID-19 caseload of the country has reduced to only 14.32 per cent, the ministry underlined. Seventy-eight per cent of the new cases of coronavirus infection are concentrated in ten states and UTs with Maharashtra contributing to more than 14,000 to the new cases. Karnataka and Kerala reported 9886 and 7834 new cases, respectively. Less than a 1000 deaths (940) have been registered in the last 24 hours. The ministry said that 80.53 per cent of new reported fatalities are from 10 states and UTs. Over 29 per cent of deaths reported on Saturday are from Maharashtra with 278 deaths followed by Karnataka with 100 deaths. Maharashtra's contribution to death toll has been on a decline.