India's active COVID-19 case count below 9 lakh for fifth day, says Health Ministry

The COVID-19 positivity rate in India is on a downward trend with cumulative positivity rate at 8.07 per cent, weekly positivity rate at 6.24 per cent and the daily positivity rate at 5.16 per cent, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said here on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference here, he said active cases were below the 9-lakh mark for the fifth consecutive day.

"India continues to report a trend of steadily decreasing active cases. At present active cases of the country stand at 8,38,729. The active cases have been below the 9-lakh mark for the fifth consecutive day," he said.

The percentage of active cases in the country is 11.69 per cent. In Kerala, it is 11 per cent, Maharashtra 25 per cent and Karnataka 13 per cent.

Ten states - Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Assam, Chandigarh and Telangana - account for 79 per cent of total active cases in the country

"We are conducting discussions with these states to figure out a way to curb COVID-19 cases," Bhushan said.

He also said from the last five weeks, there is a continuous decline in the average daily new cases.

"The weekly average of daily new cases fell from 92,830 cases in the second week of September to 70,114 cases in the second week of October," he said.

Bhushan said India's COVID-19 recoveries crossed 62 lakh, which is highest in the world.

"Around 87 per cent of people have been discharged/cured. There are 11.69 per cent active cases who are either in hospitals or under home isolation and 1.53 per cent are death cases."

He also said there is a significant increase in testing for COVID-19.

"Fourteen states and Union Territories have higher tests per million and lower positivity rate than the national average," he said.

The case fatality rate in 45-60 years age group is 13.9 per cent in co-morbidity cases and 1.5 per cent in cases without co-morbidity.

For people of 60 years and above, it is 24.6 per cent for co-morbidity cases and 4.8 per cent without co-morbidity. For people who are less than 45 years, it is 8.8 per cent in cases with pre-existing disease and 0.2 per cent without the disease.

The overall rate is 17.9 per cent for co-morbidity cases and 1.2 per cent without co-morbidity.

The mortality rate is the highest in 45-60 years age group at 35 per cent.

With a spike of 55,342 new cases and 706 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 71,75,881 on Tuesday.

( With inputs from ANI )