Less than 1.94 per cent of the 3.42 lakh active COVID-19 cases in India are in ICU, 0.35 per cent on ventilators and 2.81 per cent are on oxygen support, while the recovery rate has improved to 63.33 per cent, the Union health ministry said on Friday.
The actual COVID-19 caseload in the country was 3,42,756, while 6,35,756 patients have recovered till date, with 22,942 being cured and discharged in the last 24 hours, according to a health ministry data updated at 8 am.
The recovery rate improved to 63.33 per cent with India witnessing a steady rise in the number of patients recuperating from the disease, the ministry highlighted. On Thursday, the recovery rate was 63.25 per cent. The number of tests for detection of coronavirus cases has crossed the 13-million mark with 3,33,228 samples being tested on Thursday.
The cumulative 1,30,72,718 samples tested so far has resulted in 9,473 tests per million, the ministry said. India, the second-most populous country in the world with 1.35 billion people, has 727.4 cases per million, which is four to eight times lower than some European nations, it said. Also, according to it, the country’s case fatality rate at 18.6 deaths per million is one of the lowest in the world.
“It is also notable that less than 1.94 per cent of the cases are in ICU, 0.35 per cent cases are on ventilators and 2.81 per cent cases are on oxygen beds,” the ministry said. Collaborative efforts of all states and Union Territories in house-to-house survey, contact tracing, surveillance of containment and buffer zones, perimeter control activities, aggressive testing and timely diagnosis have resulted in early identification of the infected persons.
This has helped in early treatment too, it said. India has followed a standard care protocol for differentiated categorisation of COVID-19 patients — mild, moderate and severe — as clearly formulated in the Clinical Management Protocol of the health ministry, it said.
Effective clinical management strategies have shown to yield positive results. Almost 80 per cent of the asymptomatic and mild cases have been advised home isolation under medical supervision, the ministry said. Moderate and severe patients are being treated at either Dedicated COVID Hospitals or Dedicated COVID Health Centres.
“The strategy of home-isolation for mild and asymptomatic patients has ensured to keep the hospitals unburdened, where the focus has been on treatment of severe cases and reduction of fatality,” the health ministry said.
