COVID-19 CASES SOAR TO 29.75 LAKHS IN INDIA AS DEATH TOLL MOUNTS TO 55,794

Telangana

From Our Bureau   

22nd AUGUST 2020

India witnessed a big surge with 69,878 fresh COVID-19 positive cases reported on Friday, the highest for a single day, taking the country’s cumulative tally to 29,75,701. The death toll rose to 55,794, with 945 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours.

On the day, India’s daily tests have scaled a new peak of 10.23 lakh, India has achieved another milestone as it recorded highest ever single day recoveries of 63,631 in the last 24 hours. Total number of recovered patients reached 22,22,577 today.

With this high number of COVID-19 patients recovering and being discharged from the hospitals and home isolation (in case of mild and moderate cases), the Recovery Rate has reached 74.69 percent. This has also led to declining Case Fatality Rate, which stands at a new low of 1.87 percent today.

Recoveries exceed the active cases by more than 15 lakh

India’s total recoveries now exceed the total active cases, numbering 6,97,330, by more than 15 lakhs. The record high recoveries have ensured that the actual caseload of the country, viz. the active cases, has reduced and currently comprises only 23.44 percent of the total positive cases.

Early identification through aggressive TESTING, comprehensive surveillance and contact TRACING along with focus on timely and efficient clinical TREATMENT of patients have ensured speedy recovery. Higher number of recoveries and declining fatality have shown that India’s graded and pro-active strategy is delivering results on the field.

Building on the continuum of care approach, the policy of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively and TREATING efficiently, focussed attention on effective surveillance and house-to-house contact tracing has led to early detection and identification of COVID-19 cases.

The mild and moderate cases are treated under supervised home isolation. As per the standardized clinical management protocol based on the holistic Standard of Care approach, the critical and severe patients are hospitalised and provided the best medical care.

India tests more than 10 lakh people in a day

Keeping to its promise of exponentially increasing the daily COVID-19 tests to 10 lakhs, India has crossed the significant milestone in its fight against COVID today.

In a testament to the determined, focussed, consistent and coordinated efforts of the Central Government and the State/Union Territory governments, India has conducted 1 million tests in the past 24 hours. With 10,23,836 tests done yesterday, India has achieved its resolve to test 10 lakh samples daily.

With this achievement, the cumulative tests are more than 3.4 crore (3,44,91,073). The number of daily tests has been increasing in a steep climb. Average daily tests during the past three weeks also strongly depict the progress made in enhancement of COVID-19 tests across the country.

As has been reported from States/UTs that have pushed ahead with aggressive testing, there is a commensurate decline in the positivity rate. Although higher number of tests will initially lead to a rise in the positivity rate, it will eventually lower when combined with other measures such as prompt isolation, efficient tracking, and timely effective and clinical management.

Combined with enhanced testing, policy decisions of the Central Government and the States/UTs have facilitated easy testing across the country. This has boosted the daily testing capacity.

Enhanced diagnostic lab network has also sided in this achievement. Today, the country has a strong network of 1,511 labs comprising 983 labs in the government sector and 528 private labs. These include: Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 778 (Govt: 458 + Private: 320), TrueNat based testing labs: 615 (Govt: 491 + Private: 124) and CBNAAT based testing labs: 118 (Govt: 34 + Private: 84). (eom)

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