NEW DELHI: India’s coronavirus tally reached 9,68,876 on Thursday morning with a record 32,695 Covid-19 cases reported in the past 24 hours, as per the figures released by the Centre.
The fatality toll went up to 24,915 with 606 deaths reported in a day.
Out of the total cases, 6,12,814 have been cured so far, while 3,31,146 are currently active. In the past 24 hours, 20,783 patients were declared cured, taking India's recovery rate to 63.25 per cent.
Maharashtra -- the worst-affected state – now has a total of 2,75,640 Covid-19 cases and 10,928 fatalities.
Tamil Nadu has a tally of 1,51,820 cases and 2,167 deaths while Delhi so far has reported a total of 1,16,993 cases and 3,487 deaths due to Covid-19.
In a statement issued on Thursday, the Union Ministry of Health said that the actual caseload of Covid-19 has remained “limited and manageable” in the country due to proactive measures of containment.
Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan, meanwhile, announced that coronavirus testing capacity will be increased to about 10 lakh tests per day over next 12 weeks. As of now, about 3.25 lakh tests are being conducted every day to detect fresh cases in 1,234 government and private labs.
These measures, as listed by the government, include house-to-house survey, perimeter control activities, timely contact tracing and surveillance of containment zones, aggressive testing and timely diagnosis, and effective clinical management of the moderate and severe cases through a "well-implemented standard of care protocol substantially increasing their chances of recovery".
The Centre also said that the joint effort by the Centre and states have resulted in increasing the testing capacity, ramping up the health infrastructure, prioritizing surveillance in influenza-like illnesses and severe acute respiratory syndrome cases and ensuring mapping of the aged population and people with comorbidities.
The collaborative strategy among Centre and the states has also ensured that the growth of Covid cases is restricted to pockets in the country, claimed the health ministry.
Statistics show that only two states, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, constitute 48.15 per cent of the country's total active caseload and of the total 36 states and Union Territories, only 10 States constitute 84.62 per cent of the total active caseload.
The health ministry also underlined that from mid-June after crossing the 50 per cent mark in recovery rate, there is a steady increase in the recovered patients and decline in the number of active cases. So far, 63.25 per cent of the infected patients have recovered.
Simultaneously, there has been a steady dip in the active cases, from around 45 per cent in mid-June to around 34.18 per cent, as of now.