India recorded 36,604 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours, Union health ministry data showed at 8 am on Wednesday. With this, the nationwide tally has reached 9,499,413.
The number of active cases continue to remain below the five lakh-mark – on Wednesday, the number was 4,28,644. So far, 89,32,647 patients have been cured of the disease, the health ministry data showed.
The country recorded 501 new cases of Covid-19-related fatalities which pushed the death toll up to 1,38,122.
India has been recording less than 50,000 daily Covid-19 cases for more than 10 days, the health ministry said on Wednesday morning.
Addressing a press meet yesterday, health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said, “Cumulative positivity rate has decreased in India from 7.15% to 6.69% during November 11 to December 1 period. In November 2020, the number of recoveries has been more than the number of new Covid-19 cases.”
More than 14.13 crore tests for the detection of coronavirus infection have been conducted so far, while the cumulative positivity rate has declined from 7.15 per cent on November 11 to 6.69 per cent on December 1, Bhushan further said.
The average daily positivity rate last week has been 3.72 per cent. In the month of November, more than 10.55 lakh tests were conducted daily, while on an average 43,152 new cases and 47,159 recoveries were recorded each day, he added.
The top health official said that India still figures among the countries having the lowest number of Covid-19 cases and deaths per million population.
The Union health secretary also informed the press briefing that the top five states that have shown a decline in active cases during last month are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal.
The top five states showing a rise in active cases during the same period were Punjab, Himachal Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Haryana and Rajasthan.