India records 26,624 new Covid-19 cases, recovery rate peaks to 95.46%

The health ministry informed that 33 states and Union territories have less than 20,000 active Covid-19 cases while Kerala and Maharashtra are the major contributors to the caseload.

India recorded 26,624 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19), 341 related deaths and 29,690 recoveries in the last 24 hours, the Union health ministry data showed on Sunday morning. The new infections took the country’s tally to 10,031,223 and it now has an active caseload of 305,344 with total recoveries at 9,580,402 and deaths at 145,477. The country crossed the grim milestone of 10 million Covid-19 cases on Friday.

Union health minister Harsh Vardhan has said that the growth of coronavirus disease in India has dropped to 2 per cent and its case fatality rate is amongst the lowest in the world at 1.45 per cent. (Parveen Kumar/Hindustan Times)

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The health ministry informed that 33 states and Union territories have less than 20,000 active Covid-19 cases while Kerala and Maharashtra are the major contributors to the caseload. Together these states account for 40 per cent of total active coronavirus disease cases in India. India has been recording less than 30,000 cases for a week now.

While India is the second worst-hit country by the pandemic after the United States, it has also recorded the most number of recoveries and has a low fatality rate. Union health minister Harsh Vardhan has said that the growth of coronavirus disease in India has dropped to 2 per cent and its case fatality rate is amongst the lowest in the world at 1.45 per cent with recovery rate peaking to 95.46 per cent.

Over 16,11,98,195 samples have been tested for Covid-19, out of which 11,07,681 tests were conducted on Saturday, as per the official data.

Harsh Vardhan also said that despite the festival season in October and November, India did not observe any new surge due to comprehensive testing, tracking and treatment policy implemented on the ground. The health minister asserted the need for an ‘expeditious vaccination drive’ to inoculate the target population of around 300 million. He was speaking during the 22nd meeting of the high-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on Saturday.