30 areas reporting most cases: Centre
NEW DELHI: Thirty municipal areas account for 79% of India’s coronavirus disease (Covid-19) caseload, but the country has done better than others in terms of reducing the fatality rate, the government said on Friday.
While caseload of an area means the number of total cases that place is reporting, fatality rate refers to the percentage of deaths among those infected.
India’s death rate, containment strategy and medical infrastructure, among other issues, were discussed on Friday at the 15th meeting of a high-level group of ministers (GoM) headed by Union health minister Harsh Vardhan.
According to the government, authorities will focus on states with highest number of cases and fatalities. Priority will also be given to treatment and fatality management. Timely detection of fresh infections and contact tracing will be strengthened.
A health ministry statement said the GoM was informed that worldwide Covid-19 cases stood at 42,48,389 with 294,046 deaths. The global fatality rate of 6.92% was higher than India’s 3.23%, the statement said, putting the total number of cases in the country at 81,970 and deaths at 2,649.
So far, a total of 27,920 people have been cured of the viral infection. The number for the last 24 hours was 1,685 patients. “This takes the total recovery rate at 34.06%,” said the statement.
A senior health ministry official, who did not want to be named, said states are now facing challenges with the return of migrant workers from different parts of the country as well as with people returning from aboard.
“...measures are being taken to ensure there is no spread of infection. States will also start testing the target population to check for prevalence of the disease in this category. Whatever needs to be done is being done,” the official said.
The health ministry statement noted that while India’s case doubling rate before the lockdown announced on March 25 was 3.4 days, the number stood at 12.9 days in the past week.
The group also discussed India’s containment strategy to deal with the contagion, and the measures being taken by the Centre and states.
Civil aviation minister Hardeep S Puri, foreign minister S Jaishankar, MoS home Nityanand Rai, MoS health and family welfare Ashwini Kumar Choubey, MoS shipping and chemical and fertilizers Mansukh Lal Mandaviya, and chief of defence staff Bipin Rawat were among those present in the meeting.
The high-level team also discussed India’s medical infrastructure.
At present, a total of 8,694 facilities comprising 919 dedicated Covid-19 hospitals; 2,036 Covid-19 health centres; and 5,739 Covid-19 care centres are available in the country, health minister Vardhan said.
These facilities have a total of 277,429 beds for severe and critical cases; 29,701 intensive care unit beds (ICU); and 515,250 isolation beds. Also, 18,855 ventilators are now available to take care of critically ill patients as compared to 14,000 in March-end.