New Delhi: With a total of 70,78,123 people having recuperated from COVID-19, the national recovery rate for the disease has touched 90 per cent, while 62,077 people have recovered in a span of 24 hours as against 50,129 new cases of the infection reported in the same period, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.

This achievement is matched by the downward spiral fall in the number of active COVID-19 cases, which was maintained below the seven-lakh mark for the third successive day, it added.

"The total recoveries exceed active cases by 64,09,969 as on date," it said. Less than 1,000 deaths have been continuously reported for the last one week.

The figure is below the 1,100-mark since October 2, the ministry highlighted.

There are "merely" 6,68,154 active COVID-19 cases in the country as on date, which accounts for 8.50 per cent of the total caseload, it said.

Seventy-five per cent of the new recoveries were observed to be concentrated in 10 states and Union territories -- Maharashtra, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Delhi, Andhra Pradesh, Assam, Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh.

Maharashtra leads the tally with more than 10,000 single-day recoveries.

Also, 79 per cent of the 50,129 fresh COVID-19 cases were reported from 10 states and Union territories. Kerala continued to report a very high number of fresh cases with more than 8,000, followed by Maharashtra with over 6,000, the ministry said.

Besides, 578 COVID-19 fatalities were reported in a span of 24 hours. Of these, nearly 80 per cent were concentrated in 10 states and Union territories, Maharashtra accounting for the highest of 137.

India's COVID-19 testing laboratory network has inked another achievement. The total number of laboratories has crossed 2,000. Starting from one laboratory in Pune, the number now stands at 2,003 -- 1,126 government-owned and 877 private -- the ministry stated.

The country's COVID-19 caseload mounted to 78,64,811 with 50,129 new cases reported in a day, while the death toll due to the disease climbed to 1,18,534 with 578 fresh fatalities, data of the ministry updated at 8 am showed.

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Chandigarh (PTI): The Congress on Thursday announced candidates for eight of the nine Lok Sabha seats it is contesting in Haryana, fielding former Union minister Kumari Selja, Rajya Sabha MP Deepender Hooda and youth leader Divyanshu Budhiraja, besides two sitting MLAs.

The party has also fielded former MP Jai Prakash and leaders Satpal Brahmachari and Mahendra Pratap, according to the list released late Thursday evening.

The Congress is contesting nine of the 10 Lok Sabha seats in Haryana. It has not yet announced its candidate for the Gurugram constituency.

The Aam Aadmi Party, a constituent of the opposition INDIA bloc, will contest the Kurukshetra seat.

Congress general secretary and former Union minister Selja will contest from the Sirsa (reserved) seat and sitting MLAs Varun Choudhary and Rao Dan Singh from the Ambala (reserved) and the Bhiwani-Mahendragarh Lok Sabha seats, respectively.

Deepender Hooda, son of former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, will enter the fray from Rohtak. He has represented the Rohtak parliamentary constituency three times in the past.

Jai Prakash has been fielded from Hisar, the Congress' Haryana youth wing president Divanshu Budhiraja from Karnal, Satpal Brahmachari from Sonipat and Mahendra Pratap from Faridabad.