New Delhi: As testing increased to over 9 lakh for the first time since the Diwali weekend, the number of new cases across the country also saw a rise, with 38,617 cases recorded in the last 24 hours. This also led to a rise in the test positivity rate.
Over the last four days, the number of daily deaths has remained under 500 and continued to be so Wednesday. The total active cases in the country fell to its lowest since 24 July.
Daily cases
After hitting a four-month low for two days, the number of new cases detected in the last 24 hours crossed the 30,000-mark with 38,617 cases recorded Wednesday. On Tuesday, the number of daily cases recorded was 29,163, the lowest since 15 July.
Active cases
The number of total active cases in India fell to 4,46,805 Wednesday. This accounts for just over 5 per cent of the total coronavirus cases detected in the country since the beginning of the pandemic. The last time active cases were this low was on 24 July.
Number of deaths
With 474 deaths reported in the last 24 hours, the number of daily Covid fatalities has remained below 500 for four days in a row. India’s death toll now stands at 1,30,993 — which accounts for 9.9 per cent of the total deaths in the world from the pandemic.
Mortality rate
Punjab continues to have the highest case fatality rate at 3.16, an increase from 3.14 last week. Maharashtra has the second-highest CFR at 2.63
The state of Sikkim, which has relatively few cases — a total of 4,548 as of Wednesday — has replaced Gujarat to register the third-highest case fatality rate in the country. The state’s CFR was 1.79 on 30 October, but it has now increased to 2.02.
Kerala, which has a high active case count, maintains a low CFR of 0.35. However, it has increased from 0.34 last week. India’s overall case fatality rate is 1.47.
Daily tests
After the Diwali weekend, testing numbers increased to 9,37,279 Wednesday across 1,157 government laboratories and 956 private laboratories in the country.
Till date, 12,74,80,186 Covid-19 samples have been tested in India since the beginning of the pandemic.
Positivity rate
With an increase in the number of cases, the test positivity rate also increased to 4.1 per cent Wednesday. Calculated since the beginning of the pandemic, the overall TPR for India further reduced to 6.9 per cent.
Recovered cases
About 44,739 Covid-19 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours across the country. Since the beginning of the pandemic, 83,35,109 patients have recovered in India.
Total cases
Since the beginning of the pandemic, 89,12,907 people in India have been infected with Covid-19.
The country has the second-highest number of cases in the world and accounts for 16 per cent of the total cases detected globally.
States with the highest active cases
Maharashtra has the highest number of active cases in the country, although this number is decreasing. As of Wednesday, there are 82,904 active cases in the state.
So far, 17,52,509 people have tested positive for the disease in the state, with 2,732 people testing positive in the last 24 hours.
As many as 68 patients in Maharashtra have died in the last 24 hours, which brings the state’s death toll to 46,102.
In Kerala, the number of active Covid-19 cases is 70,191 — the second-highest in the country.
As many as 5,792 people have tested positive in the state in the last 24 hours, which is more than double the cases detected in the state Tuesday.
So far, 5,33,500 people have been infected with the virus, of which 1,915 people have died.
Delhi has been reporting the highest number of new cases among the states and Union Territories with the largest burden of active cases. In the last 24 hours, 6,396 people have tested positive for Covid-19 in the national territory, bringing the total number of cases in the capital so far to 4,95,598.
Active cases in Delhi increased to 42,004 and in the last 24 hours, 99 people in Delhi have died. This has brought Delhi’s death toll to 7,812.
West Bengal’s active cases, as of Tuesday, stand at 27,111.
With 3,654 people testing positive for the disease in the last 24 hours, the total number of infections in the state is 4,38,217.
As many as 52 people in the state have died since yesterday, bringing the state’s death toll to 7,766.
In Karnataka, the active caseload has reduced to 25,342. The total number of cases detected in the state is now 8,64,140 — which is the second-highest number of total cases.
Of these, 11,557 people have died and in the last 24 hours, 1,336 people tested positive in the state, while 16 deaths were reported.
Tests and positive cases
While the number of tests increased in the last 24 hours, Delhi’s test positivity rate also increased to 13 per cent.
This is concerning as the capital is currently reporting the highest number of daily cases among the worst-affected states. A TPR of above 10 indicates that testing needs to be increased.
Kerala also has a high TPR of 10.3 per cent, while TPR for West Bengal increased to 8.2 per cent.
Meanwhile, Karnataka has the lowest TPR among the worst-affected states at 1.7 per cent.