Continuous decline in COVID-19 positivity rate in India: Health ministry

Number of active cases has remained below 9 lakh-mark for the fifth consecutive day

A health worker wearing a PPE kit collects sample from a woman for the COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test, at a city market in Bengaluru | PTI A health worker wearing a PPE kit collects sample from a woman for the COVID-19 Rapid Antigen Test, at a city market in Bengaluru | PTI

There has been a continuous decline in COVID-19 positivity rate in the country, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday, adding that the average daily positivity rate has come down to 6.24 per cent.

“Average daily COVID-19 positivity rate has declined from 8.50 per cent between September 9-September 15 to 6.24 per cent between October 7-October 13,” the ministry said in a statement.

The cumulative and weekly positivity rates stand at 8.07 per cent and 6.24 per cent respectively.

According to the ministry, there are 8,38,729 active cases in the country as on Tuesday. It said the number of active cases has remained below 9 lakh-mark for the fifth consecutive day.

About 53 per cent COVID-19 deaths are of patients aged 60 and above while about 35 per cent deaths are of patients in 45-60 years age group and 10 per cent in 26-44 years age group.

About 70 per cent COVID-19 deaths are of males while 30 per cent fatalities from the infection have been reported in females, the ministry said.

Earlier, in another statement, the ministry claimed that India has sustained its global position of being the country with one of the lowest cases per million and reported deaths per million.

“The deaths/million in India are 79, while the world average is 138,” it said.

The ministry said with 10,73,014 tests in the last 24 hour, the cumulative number of tests conducted in India stand at 8.89 crore.

India is reporting a consistent slide in the new confirmed cases. The statement said 55,342 new cases have been registered in the last 24 hours in the country.

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