India’s active caseload, which is the actual disease burden of a country, of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) has fallen to 3.09% of the total positive cases, with 33 States and Union Territories reporting less than 20,000 active cases in all on Saturday, shows government data.
“India has reported more daily recoveries than the daily new cases on Saturday. The trend of more daily recoveries than the daily cases has led to a continuous contraction of India’s active caseload, which presently stands at 3,08,751…,”said Union health ministry in a statement.
“The declining active cases have ensured that the active cases per million population in India (223) are amongst the lowest in the world,” it said.
Globally, the United States is reporting maximum active Covid-19 cases (21, 612) per million population.
Exponential increase in Covid-19 testing has led to India’s cumulative positivity rate dropping to 6.25% at present, with testing crossing 160 million samples.
There are 15 states that have positivity rates lower than the national average, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Gujarat, Odisha and Telangana.
“Comprehensive and widespread testing on a sustained basis has resulted in bringing down the positivity rate,” the health ministry says.
On average, the country is testing at least one million samples each day in more than 2000 laboratories approved for Covid-19 testing by the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) from across the country.
Also, India’s daily testing capacity has been increased to perform at least one-and-a half million Covid-19 tests in a day.
ICMR, country’s apex body regulating medical research in the country, has been spearheading the Covid-19 testing initiative in India since the start of the pandemic. The body has not just been assisting states and laboratories in Covid-19 testing, but has also been validating testing kits, especially the ones that are made in India to ensure availability of quality products.
