Six states - Maharashtra, Kerala, Punjab, Karnataka, Gujarat and Tamil Nadu - accounted for 83.76 per cent of the 17,921 cases of COVID-19 reported in the country in a day, the Union Health Ministry said on Wednesday. India’s tally of active COVID-19 cases stood at 1.84 lakh and comprised 1.64 per cent of the total infections, according to the ministry’s data.

The total number of tests conducted in India so far has crossed 22 crore and the daily positivity rate stood at 2.43 per cent. Maharashtra continued to report the highest daily new cases at 9,927, followed by Kerala with 2,316 cases and Punjab 1,027 fresh instances of the infection. According to the ministry, 133 deaths were reported in a day, with five states accounting for 77.44 per cent of the fatalities.