Covid-19 recoveries: India’s journey from 100,000 to 9.7 million

New Delhi, Dec 28: India's COVID-19 recoveries rose to 97,82,669 on Monday and it exceeded active cases by more than 95 lakh, the health ministry said. There has been a steady drop in the active caseload as the number of people recuperating daily have been outnumbering new infections recorded in a day for over a month now, it said.

Within a span of 24 hours, a net decline of 1,389 cases from the total active caseload was registered. The country now has 2,77,301 active cases, which is 2.72 per cent of the total infections recorded so far. "Daily recoveries have been outnumbering daily new cases for more than a month now. In a span of 24 hours, 20,021 people were found to be COVID positive in the country.

During the same period, 21,131 new recoveries were registered ensuring a drop in the active caseload," the ministry said. The gap between recoveries and COVID-19 active cases is consistently widening and stood at 95,05,368 on Monday, it underlined. When compared globally, India's cases per million population is among the lowest in the world at 7,397. The global average is 10,149.

Countries such as Russia, the UK, Italy, Brazil, France and the USA have much higher cases per million population, the ministry highlighted. It stated that 72.99 per cent of the new recovered cases were observed to be concentrated in 10 state and Union Territories. Also, 79.61 per cent of the new cases are from 10 states and UTs. Kerala has reported the maximum 3,463 single-day recoveries in a day followed by 2,124 in Maharashtra and 1,740 in West Bengal. In terms of daily new cases, Kerala tops the list with 4,905 more instances of the infection, followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal with 3,314 and 1,435 new cases respectively.

The country recorded 279 fatalities have been reported in a span of 24 hours. Ten states and UTs account for 80.29 per cent of daily deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum 66 fatalities, West Bengal 29 and Kerala 25 daily deaths.

"Daily deaths in India are on a sustained decline. Deaths per million population in India (107) are amongst the lowest in the world. The global average is 224," the health ministry said. India's COVID-19 caseload rose to 1,02,07,871 on Monday with 20,021 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll increased to 1,47,901 with 279 new fatalities, the health ministry data updated at 8 am showed.