New Delhi:

Single day COVID-19 cases dip below 55,000, recovery rate rises to 69.80 per centNew Delhi, Aug 11 (PTI) COVID-19 cases in India dipped below 55,000 in a single day on Tuesday after the country recorded over 60,000 cases daily for four days on the trot, according to the Union Health Ministry data.

With the fresh cases, India's COVID-19 tally rose to 22.68 lakh, while the recoveries have surged to 15,83,489, pushing the recovery rate to 69.80 per cent.

The total coronavirus cases in the country have increased to 22,68,675 with 53,601 infections being reported in a day, while the death toll climbed to 45,257 with 871 new fatalities being reported in a span of 24 hours, the data updated at 8 am showed.

The case fatality rate dropped below 2 per cent and was recorded at 1.99 per cent as on date.

India had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7.

Meanwhile Prime Minister Narendra Modi noted on Tuesday that 10 states account for over 80 per cent of active Covid-19 cases, and asserted if the virus is defeated in these states, then the country will also emerge victorious in its fight against the pandemic.

At a video conference with chief ministers of these 10 states, including Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, Modi said the recovery rate has gone up which, he added, meant that government efforts have proved to be effective.

The Centre and states have been able to work as a team in the fight against Covid-19, he said.

"Our experience so far is that containment, contact tracing and surveillance are the most effective weapons against the pandemic with experts of the view that if positive cases are identified within 72 hours of onset, then infection slows down to great extent," the prime minister said.

Modi said it was a matter of satisfaction that the average fatality rate in India has been going down and noted that it has been very low compared to the world average.

Chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Punjab, Bihar, Gujarat, Telangana and Uttar Pradesh were invited for the virtual meet.

India's Covid-19 cases have jumped from 1 million to 2.2 million in 24 days, with over 60,000 infections reported daily in the last four days, an analysis of the Health Ministry data showed on Monday.

However, the recoveries have also surged rapidly to over 1.5 million with a record 54,859 people recuperating in the past 24 hours, according to the data.

The recovery rate now stands at nearly 70 per cent. India's case fatality rate has dropped to about 2 per cent, the ministry said.

India breached the one million-mark on July 17, reporting 10,03,832 Covid-19 cases and 25,602 deaths. On August 7, the total number of Covid-19 cases stood at 20,27,074 with 41,585 deaths.

It took 110 days for Covid-19 cases in the country to reach 100,000, another fortnight to reach 200,000-mark on June 3. In the next 18 days, the Covid tally zoomed past 400,000.

On July 17, the cases crossed the 1 million-mark, while on July 29 the cases rose to 1.5 million and on August 7, the grim 2 million mark was crossed.

In the next three days,the tally crossed the 2.2 million-mark and now stands at 22,15,074.

The first positive case of the coronavirus was reported in Kerala on January 30. India has the third-highest number of confirmed cases, behind the US and Brazil.

The three countries have been reporting a high number of Covid-19 cases as compared with other nations.