New Delhi, July 6: The national positivity rate in India for COVID-19 stood at 6.73 percent, said the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Monday. The infection rate was released by the government shortly after it announced that more than one crore (10 million) tests have been conducted in India so far, since the outbreak of disease in mid-March. Coronavirus Tally in India Inches Closer to 7 Lakh Cases, Country Becomes 3rd Worst-Hit Nation, Death Toll at 19,693.

The infection rate in India, in early June, was measured at 6.67 percent. The rate has marginally increased as compared to the past month, as per the latest stats released by the government. According to experts, a constant decline of the infection rate for 14 days may signal the peak of disease.

"Union Government has emphasized on increasing testing, prompt contact tracing and timely clinical management of the COVID19 cases. The national Positivity Rate stands at 6.73 percent," the Health Ministry said.

Update by ANI

In a statement issued earlier today, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said India's cumulative total of tests for coronavirus has crossed the 1 crore-mark. This was achieved after rapidly increasing the number of samples tested per day over the past month.

“A cumulative total of 1,00,04,101 samples have been tested till 11 am on Monday with 1,80,596 samples being tested on July 5,” scientist and media coordinator at the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), Dr Lokesh Sharma said.

The count of cases in India, as per the update released by Health Ministry today, reached 6.97 lakh. The country surged ahead of Russia to emerge as the third worst-hit nation in the world due to coronavirus outbreak.

The total number of active cases was reported as 25,3287, whereas, the number of recoveries was stated as 424433. The national recovery rate improved marginally to 60.8 percent. 19,693 patients have succumbed to death so far.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jul 06, 2020 04:28 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).