Coronavirus Highlights: 10 states account for 77% of active cases in country, says Health Ministry

About 48 per cent of total COVID-19 deaths in the country are concentrated in 25 districts of 8 states, out of which 15 districts are in Maharastra alone, the Health Ministry said on Tuesday. Addressing a press briefing, Union Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said India has recorded the highest number of recoveries from COVID-19 at over 56 lakh and India has also conducted the second-highest number of tests in the world at 8.10 crore. The active COVID-19 cases have been below 10 lakh for the last two weeks, while the recovery rate has been at 84%, the ministry added. Ten states, including Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh account for 77% of the active cases in the country.

With the festive season posing a major challenge during the COVID-19 pandemic, the Union Health Ministry has issued guidelines for large gatherings, including ensuring adequate area for events with a detailed site map and proper markings to maintain social distancing and not allowing touching of idols and holy books, to prevent the spread of infection. Festive events shall be permitted only outside the containment zones, while people residing in the restricted areas may be encouraged to observe all festivals inside their homes and not move out, according to the ministry.

Earlier in the day, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar released guidelines for the reopening of cinema halls across the country. The Centre had allowed the opening of movie theatres starting October 15 with 50 per cent capacity and one seat distance on September 30.

India reported 61,267 coronavirus cases and 884 deaths in the last 24 hours ending 8 am on Tuesday. With this, the total number of Covid-19 cases in the country rose to 66,85,083 while the toll soared to 1,03,569. At present, India has 9,19,023 active cases while as many as 56,62,491 people have recovered. India’s recovery rate has now risen to 84.70 per cent, while the fatality rate has further dropped to 1.55 per cent. Globally, over 35 million people have been infected while more than one million have succumbed to the virus. Only the United States, where over 2.12 lakh people have died and Brazil, where about 1.45 lakh have succumbed, are ahead of India.