Active COVID-19 cases in India have been witnessing a steady decline and remained below six lakh for the sixth consecutive day on Wednesday due to a sustained fall in the mortality rate and a large number of patients recuperating from the disease daily, the Union health ministry said.

There are 5,33,787 active cases of coronavirus infection in the country as on date which comprise only 6.42 per cent of the total caseload, while the total number of recoveries has surged to 76,56,478 pushing the national recovery rate to over 92 per cent.

Sixteen states and Union Territories, including Assam, Punjab, West Bengal,  Gujarat, Jharkhand, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Bihar, have cases per million lower than the national average, the ministry said.

"The active caseload remained below the six-lakh mark for the sixth successive day as on date," it said, adding 17 states and Union Territories have their recovery rates more than the national average.

As many as 53,357 patients have recovered and discharged in a span of 24 hours till 8 am on Wednesday, whereas 46,253 new infections were reported during the same period, according to the the health ministry data.

The ministry said that 80 per cent of the new recovered cases were observed to be concentrated in 10 states and UTs, with Kerala leading the table with more than 8,000 single-day recoveries followed by Karnataka where over 7,000 people were cured of the disease in a day.

The country's COVID-19 testing capacity has augmented rapidly. Total tests conducted so far for detection of COVID-19 was nearly 11.3 crore (11,29,98,959) with 12,09,609 of them being conducted in a day, the ministry said.

It stated that 25 states and Union Territories have better tests per million than the national average, the ministry highlighted.

The Health ministry further said 76 per cent of the new cases of COVID-19 were from 10 states and UTs, with Kerala and Delhi having contributed the maximum of more than 6,000 cases each. Maharashtra had over 4,000 new cases in a day.

As many as 514 fatalities have been reported in a a day. Of these, nearly 80 per cent were concentrated in 10 states and UTs with Maharashtra reporting the maximum 120 deaths.

India's COVID-19 fatality rate stands at 1.49 per cent, with 21 states and UTs have deaths per million lower than the national average, the ministry said.