From Our Bureau
16TH AUGUST 2020
India witnessed a big surge with 63,490 fresh COVID-19 positive cases reported on Sunday, taking the country’s cumulative tally to 25,89,682. The death toll rose to 49,980, with 944 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours.
On a continuous positive path of slide in its COVID-19 Case Fatality Rate, India has one of the lowest mortality globally. It stands at 1.93 percent, as of today. This is a result of coordinated efforts of the Central Government and State/Union Territory governments which has led to a continuous decline in the Mortality Rate.
USA crossed 50,000 deaths in 23 days, Brazil in 95 days and Mexico in 141 days. India took 156 days to reach this national figure.
There has been sustained focus of the Central Government and the State/UT governments on improved and effective clinical treatment in hospitals, supervised home isolation, use of non-invasive oxygen support, and improved services of the ambulances for ferrying patients for prompt and timely treatment. Tireless efforts of ASHA workers have ensured effective surveillance and tracking progress of the patients in supervised home isolation.
Clinical management skills of doctors treating COVID-19 patients have been upgraded by active technical guidance through tele-consultation sessions by domain knowledge experts from AIIMS, New Delhi. These measures have collectively ensured seamless and efficient patient management from home to hospital for critical and severe patients. This has ensured that India’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is maintained below the global average.
Successful implementation of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively and TREATING efficiently through a plethora of measures have contributed to the existing high level of recoveries as well. India’s Recovery Rate has reached nearly 72 percent ensuring more and more patients are recovering. 53,322 have recovered and been discharged in the past 24 hours. With this, the total number of recovered COVID-19 patients has increased to more than 18.6 lakh (18,62,258).
The steady rise in recoveries has ensured that the percentage caseload of the country is reducing. The current active cases, numbering 6,77,444, comprise the actual case load of the country. It is 26.16 percent of the total positive cases today, registering further drop in the last 24 hours. They are under active medical supervision.
With efficient and aggressive testing, India is rapidly moving towards completing 3 crore COVID tests; 2,93,09,703 samples have been tested so far. 7,46,608 tests were done in the last 24 hours.
This has been made possible by a rapidly growing national network of diagnostic labs which comprises 969 labs in the government sector and 500 private labs, adding up to 1,469. The different types of labs include: Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 754 (Govt: 450 + Private 304), TrueNat based testing labs: 598 (Govt: 485 + Private: 113) and CBNAAT based testing labs: 117 (Govt: 34 + Private: 83). (eom)
