NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Friday said that the COVID-19 situation is improving in the country as the recovery rate among COVID-19 patients stands at about 63%, whereas the mortality rate is just 2.72%.
The health minister said that the government is not majorly concerned about the rising number of COVID-19 cases and that the same should be seen in correct perspective vis-à-vis India’s population.
“India’s COVID-19 recovery rate stands at 63%, mortality rate is just 2.72. We are not concerned about the number of cases. We are ramping up testing so that maximum cases can be detected and treated,” the Union Health Minister said.
Harsh Vardhan added that around 2.7 lakh tests are being done daily.
Despite being such a large country, we’ve not reached the community transmission stage of COVID-19. Though there are some small pockets where there could be slightly higher transmission locally, he said.
The remarks from Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan came on a day when India recorded the highest single-day spike of over 26,502 new coronavirus cases and 475 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the total tally close to eight lakh with 21,604 deaths, Health Ministrys`s data revealed on Friday.
According to the data, out of total 7,93,802 cases, 4,95,513 have recovered while 2,76,685 remain active in the country. With more Covid-19 patients recovering, the gap between the number of recovered cases and active cases has increased by two lakh.
The rate of recovery among the Covid-19 patients continues to increase and has touched 62.42 per cent. India, however, remains to be the third worst-affected country after the US and Brazil.
During the last 24 hours, 2,83,659 samples were tested, as the testing lab network continues to expand. As on date, more than 1,119 labs have enabled people to undergo coronavirus tests.
Maharashtra tops the chart and remains the worst hit state, with cases reaching up to 2,30,599 and 9,667 casualties so far, of which 417 occurred in the last 24 hours. Tamil Nadu remained the second worst hit with a total of 1,26,581 cases, including 1,765 deaths.
With 2,187 new coronavirus cases and 45 deaths in the last 24 hours, the national capital on Thursday recorded a total tally of 1,07,051 cases and 3,258 deaths.
States with more than 10,000 cases include Gujarat with 39,194 cases and 2,008 deaths, Uttar Pradesh (32,362), Rajasthan (22,563), Madhya Pradesh (16,341), West Bengal (25,911), Haryana (19,369), Karnataka (31,105), Andhra Pradesh (23,814), Telangana (30,946), Assam (14,032) and Bihar (13,944) cases.
On the global front, the overall number of global Covid-19 cases has surged to over 12.2 million, while the deaths have increased to more than 5,54,000, according to the Johns Hopkins University.