Coronavirus recovery rate in India crosses 96 per cent: Health ministry

India has crossed a significant milestone in its fight against coronavirus, with the national COVID-19 recovery rate crossing 96 per cent, one of the highest globally, the Union Health Ministry said on Thursday.

"The total recovered cases have crossed 98.6 lakhs (98,60,280), the highest globally. The gap between active cases and recoveries is continuously increasing and stands at 96,02,624," the ministry highlighted.

Further,the active cases have drastically declined to 2.57 lakh. The total positive cases of the country are 2,57,656 and now comprise merely 2.51 per cent of the total cases.

"With a high number of COVID patients recovering every day and the sustained fall in the mortality rate, India's steady trend of registering dipping active cases continues," the ministry said.

A total of 21,822 new confirmed cases were recorded in a span of 24 hours in the country whereas 26,139 new recoveries were registered in the same period.

It has led to a net decline of 4,616 cases from the total active caseload, the ministry underlined.

Of the new recovered cases, 77.99 per centare observed to be concentrated in 10 states and UTs.

Kerala has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 5,707 newly recovered cases, 4,913 people recovered in Maharashtra followed by 1,588 in Chhattisgarh.

The ministry said that 79.87 per cent of the new cases are from 10 States and UTs.

Kerala has reported the highest daily new cases at 6,268. It is followed by Maharashtra with 3,537 new cases.

Also, 299 case fatalities have been reported in a span of 24 hours with ten states andUTs accounting for 80.60 per cent of these.

Maharashtra reported maximum casualties with 90 new fatalities. Kerala and West Bengal both follow with 28 daily deaths.

India's COVID-19 caseload increased to1,02,66,674 with 21,822new infections being reported in a day while the death toll rose to1,48,738with 299new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.