COVID-19: India's active caseload falls below 700k for first time after 2 months

India's active coronavirus caseload has fallen below 700 thousand for the first time after two months. The recovered cases are nearly 10 times more than the active cases as per India's Health Ministry. 

"The active caseload of the country has fallen below 7 lakh for the first time after two months (63 days)," the ministry said.

"With a high number of COVID-19 patients recovering every day along with a steadily falling and sustained low mortality rate, India's trend of registering decreasing active cases continues," it underlined.

The active caseload was below the 7-lakh mark (6,97,330) last on August 22.

"Increased countrywide medical infrastructure, implementation of the Centre's Standard Treatment Protocol by states and union territories (UTs), and total dedication and commitment of doctors, paramedics and frontline workers have led to a persistent increase in the number of total recoveries with commensurate dip in the fatality rate", the ministry said.

Coronavirus pandemic in India: Quick figures 

Active cases: 6,95,509 
Total recovered cases: 69,48,497 
Patients recovered in last 24 hours: 73,979
New cases reported in last 24 hours: 54,366 
National COVID-19 recovery rate: 89.53 per cent 
Total number of deaths: 117303
Deaths in last 24 hours: 690
Fatality rate: 1.51 per cent

The ministry said 81 per cent of the new recovered cases are observed to be concentrated in 10 states and UTs which are Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Delhi, Rajasthan and Uttar Pradesh.

"Maharashtra has contributed more than 16,000 to the single-day recoveries followed by Karnataka with more than 13,000 recoveries," it said.

Of the total 54,366 new cases of COVID-19 recorded in a span of 24 hours, 78 per cent are from Maharashtra, Kerala, Karnataka, West Bengal, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Chhattisgarh, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha.

Maharashtra and Kerala contribute the maximum to new cases with more than 7,000 cases followed by Karnataka with more than 5,000 cases.

Also, 690 case fatalities have been reported in a span of 24 hours. Of these, nearly 81 per cent are concentrated in 10 states and UTs -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, West Bengal, Chhattisgarh, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh and Odisha, the ministry said.

Maharashtra has reported the highest number of single-day deaths at 198. 

(With PTI inputs)