India saw 55,079 cases of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) and 875 deaths, the lowest in nearly a week in the last 24 hours. As per the Union Health Ministry data, this brings the country’s case count to 2,702,742.

There has been a decline in the daily number of COVID-19 cases for the last three days. The data showed that the number of recovered patients climbed to 1,977,779 as 57,937 people were cured of COVID-19 between Monday and Tuesday morning. At present, India’s recovery rate has climbed to 73.17%.

‘The gap between the active cases at 673,166 and recovered cases in the country has widened further at 1,304,613.’ reported The Hindustan Times.

Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said 3,09,41,264 samples were tested up to Monday for COVID-19. Out of these samples, 8,99,864 samples were tested on Monday, the top research body said.

The Health Ministry in a tweet on Tuesday mentioned the weekly national average of recoveries.

#IndiaFightsCorona A new peak of 8.97 lakh #COVID19 tests were done in the last 24 hours. Even with such a high level of testing, the positivity has remained low i.e. 8.81% compared to the weekly national average i.e. 8.84%.

— Ministry of Health (@MoHFW_INDIA) August 18, 2020

With the rapid testing, the government wants to prepare itself for launching vaccine after trials are conducted in all phases. The government has asked five pharmaceutical firms, including three that have candidates in clinical trials to prepare a comprehensive note on the way forward by Thursday.

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