From Our Bureau
10TH JULY 2020
India witnessed a big surge with 26,506 fresh COVID-19 positive cases reported on Friday, the highest for a single day, taking the country’s cumulative tally to 7,93,802. The death toll climbed to 21,604, with 475 fatalities recorded in the last 24 hours.
Also, the trend of progressive increase in the number of recovered COVID-19 patients continues. The last 24 hours saw 19,138 COVID-19 patients get cured, taking the cumulative figure of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients to 4,95,516 today. Consequently, the national recovery rate is 62.42 percent today. There are 2,76,682 active cases under medical supervision.
The improvement in recovery rate is the result of combination of preemptive, proactive and graded steps taken by the Central Government in collaboration with the States/Union Territories.
Aggressive testing that ensures early detection of patients; home isolation for the mild/pre-symptomatic patients; effective clinical management of the severe cases through adequate hospital infrastructure which helps in timely triaging of the cases; ramped up hospital infrastructure in the country; and regular and seamless coordination between the Central Government and States/UTs have together resulted in the continuously rising Recovery Rate in the country.
As of today, India has 1,218 Dedicated COVID Hospitals, 2,705 Dedicated COVID Healthcare Centres and 10,301 COVID Care Centres.
As the country as a whole witnesses an encouraging upward trend in the Recovery Rate, there are as many as 18 States/UTs with Recovery Rate more than the national average.
At the national level, the Case Fatality Rate has declined to 2.72 percent. This is lower than the Fatality Rates observed in many other countries in the world. The focus of COVID-19 management in the country has been to keep the fatalities low. With the support and guidance of the Central Government, the States/UTs have taken many steps in this regard like mapping of the communities to focus on the high risk group like the elderly/aged and population with co-morbidities, and providing special care to them.
There is a focus on improvement of quality of medical care of COVID patients. The country-wide strong network of ASHAs and ANMs along with Ayushman Bharat – Health and Wellness Centres have helped in effective surveillance and contact tracing of the cases, including the lakhs of migrants and returnees. As a result, there are 30 States/UTs which have a fatality rate lower than the national average.
Acute focus on ensuring the nationwide implementation of Test Track and Treat strategy has led to 1,10,24,491 samples tested for COVID-19 identification. The tests/day also continue to depict an upward trend– during the last 24 hours, 2,83,659 samples have been tested.
The testing lab network in the country is further strengthened with 835 labs in the government sector and 334 private labs. There are, thus, as many as 1,169 labs in the country. These include: Real-Time RT PCR-based testing labs: 614 (Govt: 382 + Private: 232), TrueNat-based-testing labs: 458 (Govt: 418 + Private: 40) and CBNAAT-based testing labs: 97 (Govt: 35 + Private: 62). (eom)
