At 2.15% India's Covid fatality rate lowest since first lockdown: Min

New Delhi: The country's total number of recoveries from COVID-19 has surged close to 11 lakh, while the case fatality rate has declined from 3.33 per cent in mid-June to 2.15 per cent, the lowest since lockdown was clamped in March, the Union Health Ministry said on Saturday.

India's COVID-19 tally reached 16,95,988 on Saturday with a record single-day increase of 57,118 cases, while the recoveries surged to 10,94,374, according to the Union Health ministry data. The death toll due to COVID-19 climbed to 36,511 with 764 people succumbing to the disease in a 24-hour span, the data updated at 8 am showed. At present, there are 5,65,103 active cases in the country.

In the global platform, India continues to register and maintain the lowest COVID-19 mortality rate, it said and asserted that this is a testimony to the focused, coordinated, pre-emptive, graded and evolving "test, track, treat" strategy and efforts of the Centre, states and Union Territories.

"The recovery rate stands at 64.53 per cent," the Health ministry said.

"Emphasis on early detection through aggressive testing and effective clinical management of the hospitalised cases have resulted in the continuously falling case fatality rate (CFR), indicating that India has been able to successfully contain the fatality rate of COVID-19," it said.

While the CFR has been kept low, successful implementation of effective containment strategy, aggressive testing and standardised clinical management protocols based on a comprehensive standard of care approach have resulted in a consistent addition of more than 30,000 recoveries daily, the Health ministry said.

It also added that three-tier hospital infrastructure with seamless patient management has ensured prompt triaging and treatment.

As of Saturday, there are 1,488 dedicated Covid hospitals with 2,49,358 isolation beds, 31,639 ICU beds, 1,09,119 with oxygen support and 16,678 ventilators.

Also, 3,231 dedicated Covid health centres with 2,07,239 isolation beds, 18,613 ICU beds and 74,130 oxygen-supported beds and 6,668 ventilators have been made operational. Moreover, 10,755 Covid care centres with 10,02,681 beds are now available to combat the pandemic, the ministry said.

The Centre has also provided 273.85 lakh N95 masks and 121.5 lakh Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and 1083.77 lakh hydroxychloroquine tablets to the states, Union Territories and central institutions so far.

Maharashtra's COVID-19 tally spiked by 9,601 new cases to 4,31,719 on Saturday while the death of 322 patients, including 45 in Mumbai, took the toll in the state to 15,316, the Health department said.

A total of 10,725 patients were discharged in the day, raising the count of recovered cases to 2,66,883. Maharashtra now has 1,49,214 active cases, Health minister Rajesh Tope said.

Mumbai city reported 1,047 new cases, taking the tally to 1,15,331 while suburbs added 2,995 new cases. The death toll in Mumbai now stands at 6,398.

Delhi, on the other hand, recorded 1,118 fresh COVID-19 cases and 26 deaths due to the disease in the last 24 hours, authorities said on Saturday.

The city has so far recorded a total of 1,36,716 cases, of which 1,22,131 patients have either recovered or migrated, they added. The death toll has climbed to 3,989, according to the latest Delhi Health department bulletin.