October 18, 2020: As India has scaled up its COVID-19 testing capacity from one in January to over 9.32 crore at present, the positivity rate has fallen below 8 per cent, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Sunday.

"India has exponentially scaled up its testing capacity from one in January to more than 9.32 cr at present. The very high testing has resulted in the continuous falling positivity rate. It has now fallen below 8 per cent," the Ministry tweeted.

The MoHFW further said that very comprehensive testing has thus worked as a highly effective tool to curb the spread of COVID-19 infection. It also leads to early identification, prompt isolation and effective treatment of COVID-19 cases, and eventual low fatality rate.

With a spike of 62,212 new cases and 837 deaths in the last 24 hours, India's COVID-19 count reached 74,32,681 on Saturday.

As per the MoHFW, the COVID-19 count includes 7,95,087 active cases and 65,24,596 cured/discharged/migrated cases. With 837 deaths in the last 24 hours, the total death count due to the disease has reached 1,12,998.

According to the Union Health Ministry, the active cases have dropped below the 8 lakh mark for the first time in one-and-a-half months.

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