Rise in COVID-19 testing, positivity rate drops below 8% in India: Health Ministry

Taking to Twitter, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare announced that India has 'exponentially' scaled up the COVID-19 testing capacity from 'one in January to over 9.32 crore at present'. The Health Ministry also announced that the positivity rate has dropped below 8 per cent due to the high testing rate. Calling testing an 'effective tool' to curb the spread of infection, the Ministry said that it allows early identification which leads to effective treatment and a reduced fatality rate. 

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The Health Ministry also announced that India has noticed a steady rise in COVID-19 recoveries and a decline in active cases. India also crossed a milestone as the active COVID-19 cases drop below 8 lakh for the first time in one and a half months. Over 65 lakh COVID-19 patients have recovered or have been discharged till date. 

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The Health Ministry said, "This significant achievement is the outcome of Centre-led targeted strategies leading to a high number of recoveries and steadily falling number of fatalities."

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PM Modi reviews COVID-19 situation in the country

On October 17, PM Modi noted a decline in coronavirus growth rate and cases while reviewing the COVID-19 pandemic situation in India. He also reviewed the update on the COVID-19 vaccine preparedness, delivery, distribution, and administration in the country. The meeting was attended by Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan, Principal Secretary to PM, Member (Health) NITI Aayog, Principal Scientific Advisor, Senior Scientists, officers of PMO, and officials from several other departments of the Indian government.

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COVID-19 in India

India saw a spike of 62,212 new coronavirus cases and 837 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the country's total COVID-19 count reached 74,32,681 which includes 7,95,087 active cases. A total of 65,24,596 COVID-19 patients have recovered. The total count of COVID-19 deaths in India has reached 1,12,998. 

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(With inputs from ANI)