NEW DELHI – The total number of active Covid-19 cases in India stood at 352,586 as of today, the lowest in nearly five months, reports the Xinhua news agency, citing the Health Ministry.
"The share of active cases in the total positive cases has further shrunk to 3.57%. This is lowest after 149 days," the ministry said in a statement.
As many as 27,071 new cases were added to the country's Covid-19 tally in the last 24 hours, whereas 30,695 cases have recovered in the last 24 hours. Daily recoveries have exceeded new cases over the last 17 days.
"The total recovered cases are nearing 9.4 million, which translates to a recovery rate of 94.98%," the statement said, adding that the gap between recovered cases and active cases continues to grow and presently stands at 9,035,573.
In a related development, a Covid-19 cluster has been detected at a premier education institution in south India, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) in Chennai, the capital city of Tamil Nadu state, after 66 students tested positive.
Covid-19 tests are being done on 700 students and faculty members at the institution.
As a precautionary measure, faculty members and students have been asked to work from home, and all labs have been shut. – Bernama, December 14, 2020