76% of total active COVID-19 cases in 10 most affected states: Health Ministry

NEW DELHI: India continues to report a trend of steadily declining active cases as a percentage of the total positive cases, according to the Health Ministry. According to the Health & Family Welfare Ministry, at least 14 states in the country currently have less than 5,000 active coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases each, highlighting the need to focus on states with a high caseload to cut the transmission cycle of the viral infection, according to government officials.

They are Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Arunachal Pradesh, Manipur, Chandigarh, Puducherry, Meghalaya, Nagaland, Ladakh, Sikkim, Mizoram, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Dadra and Nagar Haveli and Lakshadweep.

Ten states and Union Territories contribute 78% of the total recovered cases, with Maharashtra leading the tally with over 1,000,000 recoveries, followed by Andhra Pradesh with at least 600,000.

Presently the active cases for only 15.11% of the total positive cases of the country, standing at 9,40,441, the Ministry said. From 33.32 % on 1st August to 15.11% on 30th September, the active cases have less than halved in two months.

Meanwhile, the Health Ministry said on Thursday that India`s coronavirus COVID-19 tally has mounted to 63,12,584 cases with a spike of 86,821 coronavirus cases and 1,181 deaths in the past 24 hours.

Out of the total cases, 9,40,705 are currently active, 52,73,201 have been discharged, while 98,678 lost the battle against the viral disease, the Union Health Ministry data said. While the recovery rate stands at a whopping high of 83.53 per cent, the fatality rate has come down to 1.56 per cent, the data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said.

Maharashtra continues to be the worst-hit with a total of 13,84,446 cases, including 36,662 deaths; followed by Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and Delhi. Maharashtra contributes the maximum number of active cases which is over 260,000.

According to the data from the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), India conducted 14,23,052 sample tests in a single day on Wednesday, taking the total number of samples tested so far to 7,56,19,781.

The ministry pointed out speedy recoveries were being registered by states and union territories (UTs) after following the 5T strategy, i.e. ‘test, track, trace, treat, technology’ strategy. Ten states and UTs contribute 78 per cent of the total recovered cases.