The Union health ministry said on Tuesday that early trend of decline in daily new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and related fatalities has been noted in India. Addressing a press conference, Union health secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the number of daily cases of Covid-19 are on decline in at least 18 states and union territories.

"More than 1 lakh active cases are there in 13 states, 50,000 to 1 lakh active cases in six states and less than 50,000 active cases in 17 states," he said at the press conference.

Bhushan also said that the states and UTs where Covid-19 cases are falling are Maharashtra, Uttar Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Delhi, Rajasthan, Haryana, Chhattisgarh, Bihar, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Jharkhand, Telangana, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Daman and Diu, Lakshadweep and Andaman & Nicobar Islands.

The states and UTs which are still a matter of concern are Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, West Bengal, Odisha, Punjab, Assam, J&K, Goa, Himachal Pradesh, Puducherry, Manipur, Meghalaya, Tripura, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh which are showing continued increasing trend in daily new cases of Covid-19, Bhushan said.

The health ministry official also said that 26 states still have a positivity rate of more than 15 per cent.

New cases of Covid-19 fell to 3.29 lakh after 14 days, taking the infection tally to 2,29,92,517, according to the Union health ministry update on Tuesday morning.

A total of 3,29,942 infections were reported in a span of 24 hours, while the death toll climbed to 2,49,992 with 3,876 fresh fatalities, the data updated at 8 am showed.

After registering a steady rise for two months, the active cases have dropped to 37,15,221, accounting for 16.16 per cent of the total infections, while the national Covid-19 recovery rate was recorded at 82.75 per cent.

(With inputs from agencies)