NEW DELHI: The total number of COVID-19 cases surpassed 700,000 in India on Tuesday, reaching 719,665, as the death toll due to the virus crossed the 20,000-mark, reaching 20,160, according to the latest data released by the federal health ministry.
The ministry said 467 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 22,252 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 20,160 and total cases to 719,665.
"As on 8:00 a.m. (local time) Tuesday, 20,160 deaths related to novel coronavirus have been recorded in the country," reads information released by the ministry.
According to ministry officials, 439,948 people have so far been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement.
"The number of active cases in the country right now is 259,557," reads the information.
Presently the country has entered Unlock 2.0 phase, though restrictions remain in full force inside the COVID-19 Containment Zones.
On Friday, the country's civil aviation watchdog Directorate General of Civil Aviation announced that commercial international flights to and from India shall remain
suspended until July 31.
Around 100,000 cases have been detected in the past five days. Recovery rate is said to be around 62 percent.
Delhi continues to be one of the top COVID-19 hotspots in the country, with 100,823 cases and 3,115 deaths. It is only second to the southwestern state of Maharashtra which has reported 211,987 COVID-19 cases and 9,026 deaths so far.
Till a couple of days ago, only over 10 million COVID-19 samples could be tested across the country with a population of over 1.38 billion.
An official statement issued by the federal health ministry said on Tuesday that India's cases per million population is 505.37 while the global average is at 1,453.25. Quoting a World Health Organization (WHO) report, it said that India had one of the lowest cases of COVID-19 per million population.
India has ramped up the hospital infrastructure to adequately and effectively manage the cases. The preparedness included arrangement of oxygen support, Intensive Care Unit (ICU) and ventilator facilities.
As on Tuesday, there are 1,201 dedicated COVID hospitals, 2,611 dedicated healthcare centers and 9,909 care centers to look after COVID patients from those with very severe to very mild symptoms. Such level of preparedness has shown results in continuously improving the recovery rate and resulting in low case fatality rate, according to the federal health ministry.
The testing lab network continues to expand, even as more number of labs being added in various states/union territories.
There are 1,115 COVID-19 testing labs in the country, including 793 labs in the government sector and 322 private labs. Source: https://timesofoman.com/
