In a press briefing on Tuesday, 2 June, the Health Ministry of India provided data for the current COVID-19 situation in the country in terms of deaths, recoveries, and how India fares with respect to the world.
Over 8,000 new coronavirus cases were recorded in 24 hours, and 204 new fatalities and over 3,700 recoveries, bringing the total number of cases, deaths and recoveries to 1,98,706, 5,598 and 95526 respectively. 97,581 cases are active as for now, according to the health ministry website.
Instead of the Term Community Transmission, Focus on Extent of Spread: ICMR
The country witnessed more than 8,000 cases for the third consecutive day. With this, India has inched closer to the two-lakh mark, as FIT had reported.
The ministry representative, however, said that it is wrong to just look at the total number of cases only and call India the 7th hardest-hit country, because our population too should be considered. “14 countries with total similar population as India have reported 22.5 times more cases & 55.2 times deaths.”
When asked whether India has entered community transmission, ICMR representative Dr Nivedita Gupta said,
She informed that the ICMR is also conducting a serological survey to assess the extent of spread of the disease and almost 34,000 people are being tested as a part of the survey, the results for which will be published in a week, it was informed.
Recovery Rate Steadily Improving, Says Govt
In its presentation, the ministry showed a graph highlighting India’s progress in terms of the recovery rate, and said that situation is continuously improving. A total of 95,527 patients have been cured of COVID19, 3,708 have recovered in the last 24 hours.
Recovery rate is now 48.07 percent up from 11.42 percent on 15 April.
Fatality Rate Continuously Declining: Govt
Our COVID19 fatality rate is continuously declining, it is now 2.82 percent from 3.3 percent on 15 April, the ministry informed.
Our COVID-19 fatality rate of 2.82 percent is amongst the lowest in the world, compared to a global fatality rate of 6.13 percent. “We have been able to achieve this due to timely identification of cases and proper clinical management,” it was said.
It was also shown that India’s case fertility per lakh population is amongst the lowest in the world, based on data collected from WHO situation report dated 1 June.
Age & Comorbidities in India & the World
One in every two COVID19 deaths in India has been from the senior citizen population, who constitute 10 percent of our total population.
“Only 10% of India's population (people above 60 years age) are contributing to 50% of India's COVID-19 deaths. If India is able to effectively protect these high risk groups, then this will take India a long way in its fight against COVID-19,” the presentation slide stated.
Moreover, 73 percent of the deaths in the nation have been of people with co-morbidities such as diabetes, hypertension, heart and respiratory diseases
The ICMR representative at the briefing highlighted that the nodal agency has been focusing on increasing COVID19 testing capacity, and that we now have facilities in every state and Union Territoy. There are 681 labs in India, out of which 476 are in the government sector. Around 1.2 lakh samples are being tested daily.
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