Record 8.3 lakh Covid tests conducted in a day: Govt

The COVID-19 recovery rate has risen to 70.77 per cent on Thursday with the total number of patients recuperating from the disease reaching nearly 17 lakh, while the case fatality rate has further declined to 1.96 per cent, the Union health ministry said.

With 56,383 patients recuperating in 24 hours, the highest in a day, the total number of recovered patients in the country has surged to 16,95,982 on Thursday.

Besides, India has registered a record high of 8,30,391 tests conducted for detection of the coronavirus infection in 24 hours on Wednesday, as a result of which the cumulative testing as on date has jumped to 2,68,45,688 crore.

In pursuance of the "test, track and treat" strategy, India is geared up to reach the testing capacity of 10 lakh tests per day, the ministry said.

According to health ministry, "record high" recoveries have led to a decline in the "actual caseload" of the country, which is the number of active cases, and currently is only 27.27 per cent of the total cases.

The number of recoveries from COVID-19 exceeded active cases by more than 10 lakh.

There are 6,53,622 active cases of the coronavirus infection in the country, according to the health ministry data updated at 8 am.

"With the increasing number of recoveries, the recovery rate has risen to 70.77 per cent, while the mortality among COVID-19 patients has further regressed to 1.96 per cent, and is steadily declining," the ministry said.

The focussed and collaborative efforts of the Centre, state and union territories along with the support of lakhs of frontline workers have ensured the successful implementation of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently through an array of measures, including supervised home isolation, and effective clinical management of severe and critical patients, it said.

The strong resolve and determination of the Union, state and union territory governments to follow aggressive testing as the first important step in the early detection and isolation of COVID-19 positive cases has resulted in India rapidly increasing the number of tests done per day.

The week-wise average daily tests conducted saw a sharp increase from around 2.3 lakh in the first week of July to more than 6.3 lakh in the current week, the ministry said.

"With a record high more than 8 lakh tests done in the last 24 hours, the cumulative testing as on date has jumped to 2,68,45,688 crore. The tests per million has seen a sharp increase to 19,453.

"A strong determinant of this milestone has been the sustained expansion of testing labs across the country. From merely one lab in January, the country is today enriched by 1,433 labs with 947 in the government sector and 486 private labs," the ministry said.

With a record single-day increase of 66,999 cases, India's COVID-19 tally rose to 23,96,637 on Thursday, while the death toll climbed to 47,033 with 942 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours, the health ministry data showed.