The Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Friday morning said that country's cumulative positive rate of coronavirus cases has dipped below eight per cent. However, several States and Union Territories are showing positivity rate higher than the national average.

According to the Health Ministry, India's cumulative positivity rate stands at 7.81 per cent and the daily figure at 3.8 per cent. Several States/UTs are exhibiting positivity rate higher than the national average indicating a need for aggressive and widespread testing, the ministry said.

The health ministry further stated that as the first step towards timely identification, prompt isolation and effective treatment, higher testing also results in eventually lower positivity rate.

According to the data provided by the Ministry, Maharashtra with 20.4 per cent positivity rate is at the top of the list, while Puducherry (18.2 per cent) and Kerala (17.8 per cent) are at number two and three.

Worth noting that while the average for Covid-19 tests per million population is 64,473, it is at 1,30,513 for Puducherry and 57,009 for Kerala. Other states and UTs in the list are Nagaland, Chandigarh, Goa, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Ladakh, Chhattisgarh, Arunachal Pradesh, Sikkim and West Bengal.

Delhi has the lowest positivity rate at 8.1 per cent among all the states and the UTs.