The trend of more daily recoveries from COVID-19 than the number of new infections has led to a continuous contraction of India's active caseload which presently stands at 2,81,919 and accounts for merely 2.78 per cent of the total infections, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

Continuing with the trend of the last 28 days, India has reported more daily recoveries than the daily new cases in a span of 24 hours, the ministry said.

While 23,067 persons in India were found to be COVID-19 positive, 24,661 new recoveries were registered during the same period. This has led to a net decline of 1,930 cases from the total active caseload in a day, the ministry said. 

'India continues to have one of the lowest cases per million population in the world (7,352), much lower than many other countries of the Western Hemisphere. The global average of cases per million population is 9,931,'' the ministry said.

The recoveries have surged to 97,17,834. The gap between recoveries and active cases is steadily increasing and presently stands at 94,35,915, the ministry underlined.

It said that 75.86 per cent of the new recovered cases are contributed by 10 states and union territories. Kerala leads with 4,801 persons recovering from COVID-19, while Maharashtra recorded 3,171 recoveries. West Bengal registered another 2,054 daily recoveries.

Ten states and UTs have contributed 77.38 per cent of the new cases. Kerala reported 5,177 cases in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra registered another 3,580 new cases, while West Bengal recorded 1,590 new cases.

The ministry said 336 case fatalities that have been reported in a span of 24 hours, of which 81.55 per cent are from 10 states and UTs. It said 26.48 per cent of the new fatalities reported are from Maharashtra, which registered 89 deaths. Delhi also saw a fatality count of 37, while West Bengal reported 32 new deaths.

''When compared globally, India has one of the lowest case fatalities per million population (106). India's case fatality rate is 1.45 per cent presently,'' the ministry said.