COVID-19 recovery rate at 49.21%, recoveries higher than active cases: Health Ministry

The Union Health Ministry on Thursday said the coronavirus recovery rate among patients in India has risen to 49.21% and noted that the number of patients recovered presently exceeds the number of active patients.

"We are witnessing a rise in the recovery rate in the country. Today, our recovery rate is 49.21%. The number of patients recovered presently exceeds the number of active patients," Joint Secretary in the Health Ministry, Lav Aggarwal said.

India's total COVID-19 tally on Thursday stood at 2,86,579 of which 1,37,448 are active. 8,102 people have died thus far while 1,41,029 have recovered.

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Comparison misleading, misconstrued

Touching upon the subject of India overtaking other countries like Italy and Spain in COVID-19 tally, the official said the comparison of India with countries having lesser population "becomes misleading and misconstrued".

"Many times we compare the absolute numbers (of COVID-19 cases) with other countries and say that the number there is high or low. I would like to point out that sometimes this becomes misleading and misconstrued. When we compare, we should compare with countries having a population equivalent of ours. We cannot compare with countries having less population than ours," Lav Aggarwal said.

Although it is worth noting that the only country that comes close to India's population figure (130 crores) is China, with at least 140 crore citizens, and the third most populous nation on the planet is the United States with around 32 crore people. The Health Ministry didn't specify which country with a "population equivalent of ours" is well suited to be compared with India.

According to the Johns Hopkins University COVID-19 tally, India has fifth highest number of confirmed coronavirus cases in the world. The list is topped by the US, followed by Brazil, Russia, and Great Britain.

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