India Coronavirus recovery rate touches 68%, fatality rate at 2.05% as cases top 20 lakh

The Coronavirus recovery rate has touched a record high of 68 per cent while the total recoveries have jumped to 13,78,105 after nearly 50,000 patients got cured in the last 24 hours, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday.

Ramped up hospital infrastructure and emphasis on efficient treatment of hospitalised patients through the Standard of Care incorporated in the Clinical Treatment Protocol issued by the Centre, have effectively ensured improvement in the recovery rate, the Ministry said. Moreover, the average daily recovered cases (7-day moving average) have increased from around 26,000 cases to 44,000 cases in the last 2 weeks.

India on Friday crossed the 20 lakh-mark in COVID-19 cases after a record surge of 62,538 new reported infections. The death toll rose by 886 in the last 24 hours to reach 41,585 while the number of active cases — those under medical supervision — is 6,07,384. The lockdown has been extended to August 31 under 'Unlock 3'. Now, the difference between the number of recovered patients and active cases in India is more than 7.7 lakh.

READ | Coronavirus LIVE Updates

READ | India's Total COVID-19 Tally Crosses 20-lakh Mark As Global Fatalities Mount To 7 Lakhs

The Case Fatality Rate (CFR) also fell to a new low of 2.05 per cent, thus ensuring low mortality among COVID-19 patients, the Health Ministry said.

Sustained efforts by the Centre and State/UT governments through focused and coordinated containment, widespread testing combined with supervised isolation and effective treatment have together ensured the decline in the percentage of active cases and rise of the percentage recovered cases, the Ministry further said.

Earlier on Friday, the Health Ministry, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and All India Institue of Medical Science (AIIMS) made a recommendation to form a National Clinical Registry of COVID-19. The proposed NCRC will collect data from 100 hospitals across the country for the next one year to understand this highly contagious virus. This data will then be analysed by a team of scientists at ICMR and will be used to generate hypotheses for various parameters of the COVID-19 disease. 

Global fatalities cross 7 lakh-mark

Meanwhile, The World Health Organisation (WHO) has estimated that the total number of Coronavirus cases across the globe stands at 18,614,177 with 702,642 fatalities.

The UN health agency reported that 259,344 new cases had been recorded in the past day, while further 6,488 patients succumbed to the infection. The US continues to lead the tally with over 9.98 million cases, followed by Europe with more than 3.4 million, the WHO said.

(PTI Photo)

READ | After India Breaches 20 Lakh COVID-19 Cases, Rahul Gandhi Questions Centre's 'inaction

READ | 'There's A Pressing Need For National Clinical Registry Of COVID-19,' Says ICMR