With more than 37,700 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 648 deaths in the last 24 hours, India’s tally of the infection rose to 1,192,915, Union health ministry’s data showed on Wednesday.

According to the health ministry’s dashboard at 8am, 37,724 coronavirus infections were reported across the country between Tuesday and Wednesday. India has added 607,422 Covid-19 cases in 22 days and 256,734 were added in just eight days.

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The government has said the confirmation rate or positivity rate for India is continuously reducing and currently stands at 8.07%. There are 30 states and Union territories which have lower positivity rate than the national average, it said.

There have been 28,732 deaths in the country so far. India, the government has said, continues to have one of the lowest case fatality rates at 2.43% and it is consistently falling.

The health ministry data on Wednesday showed 753,049 patients of the respiratory disease have been cured till date indicating a recovery rate of 63.12%, slightly up from 62.72% a day before. In the last 24 hours, 28,472 people were sent home.

The difference between active cases of Covid-19 and recovered people has further widened to 341,916. There are 411,133 active cases on Wednesday morning.

Maharashtra, which has crossed the 300,000-mark,Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Karnataka continue to add thousands of Covid-19 cases to country’s tally every day.

A serological survey conducted in the national capital indicated the Sars-Cov-2 virus, which causes the coronavirus disease, is much less deadly and far more transmissible than previously thought

Experts believe that the study’s findings suggested the Capital city could be closer to achieving herd immunity than previously believed.

The National Centre for Disease Control (NCDC) tested 21,387 people at random from across Delhi between June 27 and July 10, a survey that showed that 23.48% of these had antibodies for the virus, which causes Covid-19, in their blood.

Officials have said that 22.86% of the population may have been exposed to the virus after adjusting for false positives and negatives based on the performance of the kit.

The national average of tests every day per million population has substantially jumped to 180, as on date. There are currently 19 states and Union territories which are conducting more than 140 tests every day per million population as advised by the World Health Organization (WHO), it said.

Goa is testing highest at 1,333 tests per day per million, the government has said.