India saw 55,079 cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 875 deaths, the lowest in nearly a week, in the last 24 hours, bringing the country’s case count to 2,702,742, according to the Union health ministry data.

There has been a decline in the daily number of Covid-19 cases for the last three days--there were 63,490 infections last Sunday and 57,981 on Monday, the health ministry’s data showed.

The health ministry’s dashboard showed that the number recovered patients climbed to 1,977,779 as 57,937 people were cured of Covid-19 between Monday and Tuesday morning. With that, India’s recovery rate climbed to 73.17%.

The gap between the active cases at 673,166 and recovered cases in the country has widened further at 1,304,613. The country’s death toll from the coronavirus disease is now at 51,797. Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has said 3,09,41,264 samples were tested up to Monday for Covid-19. Of these, 8,99,864 samples were tested on Monday, the top research body said.

“A new peak of 8.97 lakh #COVID19 tests were done in the last 24 hours. Even with such a high level of testing, the positivity has remained low i.e. 8.81% compared to the weekly national average i.e. 8.84%,” the health ministry said in a tweet on Tuesday.

“Focused implemention of Centre-led strategies has ensured prompt identification, timely isolation & effective clinical treatment, leading to reduced Case Fatality Rate. 30 States/UTs performed better than the national average,” it added.

The government has asked five pharmaceutical firms, including three that have candidates in clinical trials, prepare and a present a comprehensive note on the way forward by Thursday on how soon they can produce large quantities and what pricing they expect if their shot is approved.