DW BUREAU / Chandigarh Punjab on Saturday reported 26 new cases of coronavirus, taking the infection tally to 6,02,189, according to a medical bulletin. With no death reported in the last twenty-four hours, the toll stood at 16,551. Among the new cases, Jalandhar reported six, followed by four in Mohali and three each in Bathinda and Gurdaspur. The number of active cases stands at 231, according to the bulletin. Twenty-five people recovered from the infection, taking the number of those who have been cured to 5,85,407. Chandigarh reported only one case, taking the total count to 65,321. The toll stood at 820. The number of active cases in the city was 27 and the number of cured people was 64,474. India saw a single-day rise of 16,326 new COVID-19 cases, taking the tally to 3,41,59,562, while the active cases have declined to 1,73,728, the lowest in 233 days, according to the Union health ministry's data updated on Saturday. The death toll has climbed to 4,53,708 with 666 daily fatalities, according to the data updated at 8 am. Kerala has reconciled 292 fatalities on Saturday from the previous period. Hence, the death toll is higher, officials said, adding that 99 deaths have been reported from Kerala in the last 24 hours. The daily rise in new coronavirus infections has been below 30,000 for 29 straight days and less than 50,000 daily new cases have been reported for 118 consecutive days now. The active cases have decreased to 1,73,728 comprising 0.51 per cent of the total infections, the lowest since March 2020, while the national COVID-19 recovery rate was recorded at 98.16 per cent, the highest since March 2020, the health ministry said. A decrease of 2,017 cases has been recorded in the total active number of COVID-19 cases in a span of 24 hours. Also, 13,64,681 tests were conducted on Friday, taking the total cumulative tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 in the country to 59,84,31,162 . The daily positivity rate was recorded at 1.20 per cent and the weekly positivity rate was also recorded at 1.24 per cent, according to the health ministry. The number of people who have recuperated from the disease surged to 3,35,32,126, while the case fatality rate was recorded at 1.33 per cent. (editor@dailyworld.in)