The spread of the novel coronavirus in India has quickened in the last few days with new cases of Covid-19. India’s Covid-19 case tally crosses 43 lakh mark with a spike of 89,706 new cases and 1,115 deaths reported in the last 24 hours. Over 5 crore samples tested up to 8th September 2020. Of these, 11,54,549 samples were tested yesterday.
According to the Ministry of Health, “Although the cases are on the rise in terms of absolute numbers, India still has 3,102 cases per million, which is one of the lowest in the world.”
Addressing a press conference on Tuesday, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said “Within a span of two weeks, the national average figure of tests per million has increased from 26,016 to 36,703. More than 10 lakhs 47 thousand 471 tests have been conducted in average on a daily basis, while more than 11 lakh tests have been conducted on the 3rd and 4th September. With the rise in testing capacity and also of recoveries, the gap between active and recovered cases is continuously widening.”
Mr Bhushan said that the Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is continuously declining. “It was 2.15 per cent in the first week of August. It now stands at 1.70 per cent compared to the global average of 3.04 per cent,” he said.
As India has lowest Deaths per Million Population, Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is also declining continuously; currently India's CFR is below 2% i.e 1.70%: Secretary, @MoHFW_INDIA #StaySafe #IndiaWillWin @ICMRDELHI pic.twitter.com/STby9wCP2i
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) September 8, 2020
“In India, 53 deaths per million populations have been recorded. The number of deaths per million populations is 500 to 600 in countries with which we are compared. Doctors, paramedics, hospital support staff have a great contribution in this,” he added.
Aggressive and widespread testing has essayed an important role in India’s fight against the Covid pandemic. India has come a long way from conducting just one test from the lab at National Institute of Virology, Pune in January 2020 to 5,06,50,128 today. 10,98,621 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours testifying the enlarged testing capacity in the country, Ministry of Health said.
Most of India’s cases are in Maharashtra. However, infections are rising rapidly in states like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, and Uttar Pradesh, together these states account for 62% of the active cases. Maharashtra’s share is around 27% of the total active cases, which in terms of absolute numbers is 2.37 lakhs.
On the other hand, there are 14 states and UTs which have less than 5,000 active cases at present. There are also 20 states and UTs where the number of active cases is between 2,000-5,000. This apart, nearly 70% of the COVID-19 related deaths are also being reported from 5 states, that is, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh. “The states where active cases are mostly concentrated are also, more or less, accounting for most of the deaths”, stated the Health Secretary.
5 States-Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh & Tamil Nadu account for 62% of the total active cases in the country: Secretary, @MoHFW_INDIA
#StaySafe #IndiaWillWin @ICMRDELHI pic.twitter.com/ngKRNNCQ8t— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) September 8, 2020
Dr V.K Paul, Member (Health), NITI Aayog said, our COVID-19 case numbers are looking big since we are testing in a very liberal manner, which has, in turn, helped us to reduce the mortality rate. He further said we should create an environment where no one is afraid of testing, it is dangerous to the individual and also to the system if one does not test despite experiencing symptoms.
We should create an environment where no one is afraid of #COVID19 testing, it is dangerous for the individual and for the system if testing is being ignored despite having symptoms: Member (Health), @NITIAayog #StaySafe #IndiaWillWin pic.twitter.com/VStFomzR2Q
— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) September 8, 2020
“We should be afraid of the virus, not of testing; we should create a culture where everyone who experiences symptoms proceeds to get oneself tested”, appealed Dr V.K. Paul.
India's #COVID19 Cases per Million population is amongst the lowest in the world; which stands at 3,102 for India and 3,527 for the World: Secretary, @MoHFW_INDIA
#StaySafe #IndiaWillWin @ICMRDELHI pic.twitter.com/KeVsCgvgYf— #IndiaFightsCorona (@COVIDNewsByMIB) September 8, 2020
