New Delhi: More than 11 lakh tests done in the past 24 hours have failed to calm down India’s positivity rate, which is at 8 per cent, even as the government makes daily statements about “record recoveries”. Deaths are also steadily increasing, with 1,290 in the last 24 hours. Maharashtra has reported over 30,000 of the 82,000 deaths in the country so far.
Active cases
Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Tamil Nadu together make up for nearly 60 per cent of the active cases. In the past 24 hours, 90,123 new cases have been reported in the country. Maharashtra is leading this tally with more than 20,000 new cases in the last 24 hours. This is followed by Andhra Pradesh at 8,846 and Karnataka at 7,576.
Number of deaths
In the last 24 hours, 1,290 people have died of Covid-19 in India, which means the slight dip in the daily death toll Tuesday was only a temporary respite. Till now 82,066 deaths have taken place in India because of Covid-19 — the number is higher than the total cases in many countries but the case fatality rate is on a steady decline, currently at 1.64 per cent.
Mortality rate
Punjab has once again registered a small jump in the case fatality rate while others continue to come down. Currently, nine states have CFR higher than the national average of 1.64 per cent.
Daily tests
The 11,16,842 tests done through Monday have brought the total number of tests done in the country to 5,94,29,115. There are currently over 1,700 private and government laboratories in the country that are conducting tests using RT-PCR, CBNAAT and Truenat techniques. The number also includes rapid antigen tests but a breakup of tests has not been made available by the government despite repeated queries.
Positivity rate
Over 11 lakh tests in a day have not been enough to bring down India’s positivity rate to any significant extent. It currently stands at 8 per cent against a target of 5 per cent that is considered ideal by the World Health Organization (WHO). There are no estimates currently on what is an ideal level of testing that is needed in India but government officials have now started talking about a “5 million mark”.
Recovered cases
India logged the highest number of single day recoveries in the last 24 hours, with 82,961 Covid-19 patients cured and discharged from home/facility isolation and hospitals, steeply pushing the recovery rate to 78.53 per cent.
Total cases
India’s Covid-19 cases have now breached the five million mark, behind only the tally of the United States. This is despite India witnessing one of the harshest lockdowns in the world and continuing restrictions on many activities, including opening of educational institutions. The WHO, meanwhile, has said that closing schools should be the last resort.
High burden states
While the national doubling time now is nearing 36 days, Uttar Pradesh is doubling in close to 33 days. The total number of cases in the state currently stands at 3,24,036 of which 67,335 are active cases. In the last 24 hours, 6,841 cases and 113 deaths were reported.
With a total of 10,97,856 cases reported so far, Maharashtra has the highest disease burden in the country. Over 30,000 of India’s 82,066 deaths have taken place in the state. In the last 24 hours, 20,482 cases and 518 deaths were reported.
Both Karnataka and Maharashtra have been asked by the central government to increase testing, even as Karnataka reported 7,576 new cases from 68,365 tests in the last 24 hours. The death rate, at 1.58 per cent, is slightly less than the national average of 1.64 per cent.
In the last 24 hours, Andhra Pradesh reported 8,846 cases and 69 deaths, taking its total tally to 5,83,925. The doubling time currently stands at a little over 41 days, with a growth rate of 1.75 per cent.
The steady decline in active cases in Tamil Nadu continues, even as its total number has now reached 5,14,208. The state’s case fatality rate though is now higher than the national average of 1.64 per cent.
Tests and positive cases
Testing in Maharashtra is now getting close to the one lakh mark, while Uttar Pradesh tested over 1.48 lakh samples in the last 24 hours. Karnataka has tested the least among the high burden states.
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