Active COVID cases lowest in 170 days; 10 states report 80% new cases

The COVID-19 active caseload in the country dropped to 2.77 lakh on Monday, the lowest after 170 days, the Union Health Ministry said. The ministry said in a statement that India has reported a trend of a sustained decline in the number of active cases.

“India’s present active caseload consists of just 2.74 per cent of India’s total positive cases,” it said. The total recovered cases stand at 97,61,538.

Daily deaths in India are on a sustained decline. Deaths per million population in India (107) are amongst the lowest in the world. The global average is 224, the ministry said.

Also read: Steady fatality rate, fall in TPR point to declining COVID-19 trajectory in India

It said in a press release that 79.61% of the new cases are from 10 states. Kerala continues to report the highest daily new cases at 4,905. It is followed by Maharashtra and West Bengal with 3,314 and 1,435 new cases, respectively. The other states are: Tamil Nadu (1,009), Madhya Pradesh (946), Karnataka (911), Uttar Pradesh (900), Gujarat (850), Rajasthan (843) and Chhattisgarh (825).

It also said 10 states/UTs account for 80.29% of daily deaths. Maharashtra saw the maximum casualties (66).West Bengal and Kerala follow with 29 and 25 daily deaths, respectively.

The government has identified 10 advanced regional labs to serve as regional hub laboratories for genome sequencing as part of its monitoring strategy for the genomic variations in the Sars-Cov-2 virus that causes COVID-19.

The genomic sequencing will be maintained in a national database at two sites, National Institute of Biomedical Genomics, Kalyani (West Bengal), and Institute of Genomics and Integrative Biology, Delhi.

Meanwhile, PTI quoting Karnataka Health Minister K Sudhakar on Monday said stringent action could be taken against those returnees from the UK who were untraceable and had switched off their mobile phones. It could even be police action against them, the minister indicated.

“I request the UK returnees to cooperate with us as responsible citizens. You have to get tested. If you don’t get tested and switch off your phone, then it’s a crime in true sense,” Sudhakar said.