New Delhi: With the second successive day of half a million tests significantly bringing sample positivity rate down, and the daily death toll dipping below 700 for the first time in a week, it has been a relatively better day on the Covid front, even though the daily deluge of cases continues unabated.
Delhi is reporting very low figures but is now also facing judicial scrutiny for its testing numbers.
The total disease burden in the country is all set to cross a million and a half even as new hotspots emerge.
Number of deaths
The daily Covid-19 death numbers came down just marginally to 654 — first time in a week that it has gone below 700. The toll now stands at 33,425.
Mortality rate
With Sikkim that locked itself away very early now recording its first death, the ranking on the top of the mortality chart now stands rejigged again. The bottom half ominously looks the same.
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Active cases
The total active cases in the country is now nearing 5 lakh even as the daily caseload keeps flirting with the 50,000 mark. In the last 24 hours, 47,703 new cases were reported.
Daily tests
The half-a-million mark was breached in daily tests two days on a row, just the push needed to bring down the positivity rate even further. So far, the country has tested 1,73,34,885 samples.
Recovery rate
The recovery rate has seen a sharp increase from around 53% in mid-June to more than 64% as on today, the Ministry of Health said in a statement Tuesday. With 35,176 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, the total recoveries stand at 9,52,743.
Positivity rate
The sharp increase in testing has brought down the daily positivity rate to 9% from 13% less than a week ago. While this is a great start, if the trajectory of the disease so far is any indication, the target of 10 lakh tests a day will need to be reached fairly soon.
Total cases
The total number of cases in the country is now very near the figure of 15 lakh — the landmark is likely to be achieved by tomorrow.
High-burden states
Maharashtra reported 7,924 cases and 227 deaths in the last 24 hours. What is more worrying is that the fatality rate remains high at 3.62%.
Tamil Nadu reported 6,993 cases and 77 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state has a doubling time of 22 days and a fatality rate of 1.62%.
Delhi’s run of low Covid numbers continued unabated even as the state’s testing strategy was in for some sharp scrutiny in the Delhi High Court Monday. As many as 613 cases were reported but only 11,506 tests were done, which means the positivity remains above the national average.
Andhra Pradesh has almost doubled its Covid numbers in the last one week even as the state continues to test far more per million population than the national average. Its positivity rate is just above 6%.
Karnataka reported 5,324 cases and 75 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state has a doubling time of 12 days but the fatality rate, at 1.93%, still remains below the national average of 2.25%.
Tests and positive cases
The comparison between high disease-burden states is beginning to look fairly unequal with both fresh cases and deaths dramatically down in Delhi. Karnataka comes second in the order of lowest tests.
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