The Centre on Friday informed that the number of COVID-19 recovered patients in India have exceeded the number of active cases.

According to a central government data, a total of 13,940 COVID-19 patients have recovered in the last 24 hours, taking the overall tally to 2,85,636.

The recovery rate of the country has also jumped up to 58.24 per cent.

It may be mentioned here that the country's COVID-19 count increased by a record 17,296 in 24 hours, taking India's overall coronavirus cases to 4,90,401.

The Centre further informed that only 10 cities from across the country accounted for a total of 50 per cent of the new COVID-19 cases.

Moreover, in the last 24 hours, a total of 407 new fatalities were reported from the country taking the overall tally to 15,301.

For the seventh day in a row, the country registered over 14,000 new COVID-19 cases on Friday.

Meanwhile, the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) has inducted 11 new labs in the last 24 hours and the country now has 1,016 diagnostic labs dedicated to COVID-19.

A total of 2,15,446 tests have been conducted in the country in the last 24 hours and so far a total of 77,76,228 samples have been tested across the country.

It is pertinent to mention here that the states of the northeast have a lower number of COVID-19 positive cases as compared to the rest of the country.

As per the Centre's data,  there are 3,731 active cases in the northeast and 5,715 patients have recovered so far.

Moreover, the mortality rate continues to be low in the northeast, with no deaths reported so far from Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland, and Sikkim.

“The North-eastern states have a lower number of COVID-19 cases compared to the rest of the country," the Centre's data said.

"Active cases are 3,731, recoveries are 5,715 and the death rate continues to be low, with no deaths in Manipur, Mizoram, Nagaland and Sikkim," data added.