India nearing 6 million Covid-19 cases - death toll at 94,503

4 years ago

India nearing 6 million Covid-19 cases - death toll at 94,503

India recorded 88,600 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in the last 24 hours, which took the nationwide tally closer to six million mark. According to the Union health ministry on Sunday, the number of active cases in the country stand at 9,56,402, while 49,41,627 patients have been cured/discharged from hospitals.

The disease claimed 1,124 lives in the last 24 hours, which pushed the country’s fatality count to 94,503. The health ministry had said on Saturday that 75 percent of Covid-19 cases are found concentrated in 10 states and union territories.

The 10 states and UTs are Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, Odisha, Delhi, West Bengal and Chhattisgarh. The ministry also said that India has conducted a total of seven crore tests for the detection of coronavirus infection till Friday with the country’s testing capacity having crossed 14 lakh tests daily.

Asserting that India has substantially ramped up its testing infrastructure, it said as on date, there are 1,823 laboratories, including 1,086 government and 737 private ones.

“The national cumulative positivity rate is 8.40 per cent and tests per million is presently positioned at 50,920,” the ministry said.

Health minister Harsh Vardhan said on Saturday that over five lakh personal protective equipment per day are being produced by the 110 PPE manufacturers in the country.

“Now we have 110 PPE manufacturers in India, producing over 5 lakh per day. States who used to complain about not getting an adequate number of PPEs, now say they do not have a place to keep them when we talk about sending PPEs,” Harsh Vardhan said here at the 79th Foundation Day of Council of Scientific and Industrial Research (CSIR).

The minister also said that India’s recovery rate is around 82 percent and the fatality rate is around 1.6 per cent.