COVID-19: 47k new cases in India, fatality rate declines to 2.25%

India reported 47,704 new COVID cases and 654 deaths in the last 24 hours. With this, the total number of positive cases stand at 14,83,157 and deaths 33,425.

Of the total cases, 4,96,988 are active cases while 9,52,744 are cured/discharged or migrated cases. The recovery rate among COVID patients has increased to 64.23 per cent, government officials said.

India's COVID-19 fatality rate is progressively falling from 3.33 per cent on June 18 to 2.25 per cent as on date, while the recovery rate increased from around 53 per cent in mid-June to more than 64 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday.

"The COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) has reduced from around 3.33 per cent in mid-June to 2.25 per cent today, the ministry said.

"India continues its march as a country with one of the lowest fatality rates in the world," it said while underlining that the achievement was a result of effective implementation of containment strategy combined with house-to-house surveys, aggressive testing and standardised clinical management protocols based on holistic standard of care approach.

The ministry said such an approach ensured that hospitals were left unburdened with supervised home isolation for asymptomatic patients.

Under the guidance of the central government, the state and Union territory (UT) governments have focused on reducing fatalities by effectively managing severe cases and prioritising care of the high-risk population using field healthcare workers, leading to decrease in the COVID-19 case fatality rate (CFR) across the country.

The ramped up three-tier hospital infrastructure along with prompt and seamless patient management has helped in consistent increase in the recoveries, it said.

For the fifth day in a row, India has seen more than 30,000 recoveries per day.

The recovery rate among coronavirus infected patients has seen a sharp increase from around 53 per cent in mid-June to 64.24 per cent as on Tuesday, according to the ministry data.

The actual active case load is presently 4,96,988 and all are under medical supervision.

The focused efforts on early detection and isolation along with handholding of states and UTs by expert teams of AIIMS, New Delhi for efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases and periodic visits of central teams, have borne results with continuously improving recovery rate, the ministry said.

Better off than rest of the world: Modi

India is in a much better position than other countries in the fight against COVID as a result of “right decisions taken at the right time”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said on Monday, asserting that the country has expanded its health infrastructure at a rapid pace to deal with the pandemic.

During this crisis, everyone is working with only one determination – that each and every Indian has to be saved. This resolve has given astonishing results, Modi added.

Prime Minister Modi said it was imperative for the country to develop corona-specific health infrastructure at a fast pace and pointed out that this was the reason that the Centre had announced a package of Rs 15,000 crore at the beginning of the COVID-19 battle.

The country now has more than 11,000 COVID facilities and more than 11 lakh isolation beds, Modi said.

"While the country had only one COVID testing centre in January this year, there are almost 1,300 such labs now," he said.

At present, more than five lakh tests are being conducted in the country daily, and efforts are underway to increase this capacity to 10 lakh in the coming weeks, he said.

Modi also noted that the country has become the second-largest PPE kit manufacturer and has progressed from not having even a single PPE kit manufacturer as recently as six months ago, to having more than 1,200 manufacturers now, who are producing more than five lakh such kits daily.

The prime minister also highlighted that from being dependent on imports, now more than three lakh N-95 masks are being produced in the country daily, the annual production capacity of ventilators has become three lakh and there has also been a significant increase in the production of medical oxygen cylinders.

This has not only helped save lives but has also converted India from an importer to an exporter, he observed.

Apart from developing the physical infrastructure, the country has also managed to swiftly ramp up human resources including paramedics, ASHA workers and Anganwadis, who have played a significant part in controlling the spread of the pandemic, he said.

"Our scientists are working fast to develop a vaccine against coronavirus. But, till the time an effective medicine or vaccine is not ready, 'do-gaz doori' (six feet distance), wearing masks and hand sanitisation are the only alternatives," the prime minister asserted.

(With inputs from PTI)