Covid-19 active tally falls below 500,000 for first time in 106 days

Crossing another"milestone" in the fight against the pandemic, theCOVID-19 active caseload in India has fallen below the 5 lakh-mark for the first time after 106 days and comprises merely 5.73 per cent of thetotal cases, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday.

Seventyper cent of the 44,281 new coronavirus infections reported in a span of 24 hours are from ten states and UTs withDelhicontinuing to report the highest daily new casesat 7,830. It is followed by Kerala with 6,010 cases, the ministry said.

There are 4,94,657 active cases of coronavirus infections as on date. It was 4,96,988 onJuly 28.

"This also indicates a sustained trend of declining active cases in the country. It assumes higher significance in the context of several countries across the globe reporting a surge in the number of new cases," the ministry said.

This landmark achievement has been made possible by the Centre's sustained, graded and targeted strategies, their effective implementation by states and UTs, dedicated and selfless service of doctors and all other COVID-19 warriors, it said.

Twenty-seven states andUTs have less than 20,000 active cases, the ministry highlighted.

"Just 8 states and UTs have more than 20,000 cases; two states (Maharashtra and Kerala) have active cases more than 50,000," the ministry said.

A total of 44,281 new cases have been reported in a span of 24 hours while 50,326 cases have recovered during this period. This is the 39th day of daily recoveries exceeding the daily new cases, theministry underlined.

The total COVID-19 recoveries have crossed the 80 lakh mark. The number of total recoveries as on date is 80,13,783 and exceed active cases by75,19,126.The recovery rate has increased to 92.79 per cent, the ministry said.

In another milestone, India has carried out over 12 crore cumulative tests with11,53,294 tests being conducted in a span of 24 hours.

The trend of daily low cases has been made possible by an exponential increase in the testing infrastructure.

The ministry said that77 per centof the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states and UTs.

Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 6,718 newly recovered cases closely followed by the 6,698 figure achieved by Kerala. They are followed by 6,157 recoveries in Delhi.

Ten states and UTs account for 79 per centof the COVID-19 fatalities. A total of 512 case fatalities have been reported in a span of 24 hours.

Maharashtra saw the most casualties at 110. Delhi and West Bengal follow with 83 and 53 new deaths, respectively.

India's COVID-19 caseloadmounted to86,36,011 with 44,281 people testing positive for the infection in a span of 24 hours, while thedeath toll climbed to1,27,571 with 512 new fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.