NEW DELHI: India registered more than 40,000 fresh COVID-19 cases on Sunday and the number of coronavirus cases in the country touched 2.38 lakh mark. A total of 673 people died due to coronavirus infection on Sunday, taking the week's toll to 4,285. The number of active coronavirus cases increased in the last week. In a span of seven days, more than 88,000 cases have been reported. The Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Sunday said that India's coronavirus fatality rate has decreased below 2.5 percent for the first time since the outbreak started. The ministry added that India's mortality rate due to coronavirus is one of the lowest in the world.

A senior health ministry official said, "The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is slowly decreasing and currently stands at 2.49%. India has one of the lowest rates of fatality in the world. It is due to the successful containment policy, rigorous monitoring, and structured clinical management guidelines provided by the government to combat the coronavirus."

He further added that 29 states and Union Territories in the country have lower Case Fatality Rate (CFR) than the national average. Zero CFR has been registered in five states and UTs while 14 others have a CFR less than one percent.

The coronavirus fatality rate in other states and UTs - Arunachal Pradesh (0.46), Assam (0.23), Bihar (0.83), Chhattisgarh (0.46), Chandigarh (1.71), Dadra & Nagar Haveli and Daman & Diu (0.33), Tripura (0.19),Jharkhand (0.86), Kerala (0.34),Meghalaya (0.48), Odisha (0.51), Goa (0.60), Himachal Pradesh (0.75), Telangana (0.93), Uttarakhand (1.22), Andhra Pradesh (1.31), Haryana (1.35), Tamil Nadu (1.45), Puducherry ( 1.48), J&K (UT) (1.79), Rajasthan (1.94), Karnataka (2.08), and Uttar Pradesh (2.36).

Maharashtra reported its highest single day spike in coronavirus infections on Sunday. A total of 9,518 coronavirus cases have been reported in the state. Andhra Pradesh reported 5,041 cases on Sunday. The other states that recorded their highest single day spike in the infection were Tamil Nadu (4,979 new cases), Bengal (2,278), Uttar Pradesh (2,250), Gujarat (965), Rajasthan (934), Madhya Pradesh (837), Kerala (821) and Uttarakhand (239).