India's total active caseload slumps below 3 lakh, lowest in 163 days

New Delhi [India], December 22 (ANI): India has achieved another milestone in the fight against the COVID-19 outbreak as the active caseload of the country has fallen below 3 lakh for the first time after 163 days, while the total recoveries have surpassed 96 lakhs, said the Union Ministry of Health on Tuesday.
The active caseload was below the 3 lakh mark i.e. 2,92,258 last on 12 July, according to an official release.
The Ministry said that the share of active cases in the total positive cases has further shrunk below 3 per cent to 2.90 per cent. A net decline of 11,121 cases has been recorded in the total active cases in the last 24 hours.
Less than 20,000 daily new cases (19,556) were added to the national tally in the last 24 hours after 173 days.
"India's active cases per million population are amongst the lowest in the world (219). The figure is much higher for countries like the US, Italy, Brazil, Turkey and Russia," the Ministry said.
The total recovered cases have crossed 96 lakhs (96,36,487) which translates to a recovery rate of 95.65 per cent. The gap between recovered cases and active cases continues to grow and presently stands at 93,43,969.
Around 30,376 people have recovered in the last 24 hours and new recoveries have been exceeding the new cases continuously since last 25 days.
The high level of testing on a daily basis combined with high levels of recoveries along with steadily declining new cases have led to a slide in the mortality rate.
75.31 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 States/Union Territories.
Maharashtra has reported the maximum number of single-day recoveries with 6,053 recoveries, followed by Kerala with 4,494 recoveries and West Bengal with 2,342 daily recoveries.
75.69 per cent of the new cases are concentrated in 10 States and UTs.
Kerala reported the maximum daily new cases numbering 3,423 in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra recorded 2,834 new cases while West Bengal reported 1,515 new cases yesterday.
Ten States/UTs account for 76.74 per cent of the 301 case fatalities reported in the past 24 hours.
18.27 per cent of new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra which reported 55 deaths. West Bengal and Kerala follow with 41 and 27 new deaths, respectively. (ANI)