INDIA RECORDS 6K+ COVID CASES FOR THE EIGHTH DAY

NEW DELHI: The number of coronavirus disease (Covid-19) cases surged by 6,535 between Monday and Tuesday, the eighth day when single-day infections have been increasing over 6,000, the Union health ministry said, even as 146 fatalities pushed the death toll past the 4,000-mark.

According to covid19india.org, which tracks coronavirus cases on real time basis, the country saw 146,496 cases and 4,187 deaths till 6.30pm on Tuesday. The health ministry said that the recovery rate of Covid-19 cases in India has been improving considerably while the fatality rate is among the lowest in the world.

“A total of 60,490 patients have recovered so far from Covid-19. The recovery rate continues to improve and presently it is 41.61%. The fatality rate is one among the lowest in the world, and it is at 2.87%,” said the ministry’s joint secretary, Lav Agarwal, at a press conference on Tuesday.

He said Covid-19 cases in India were being reported at a much lower rate than the world average. “If 69.9 cases per 100,000 population have been reported across the world, in India the number is near 10.7 cases per 100,000 population,” he said.

Dr Balram Bhargava, director general of the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), said: “India has rapidly increased its testing capacity and is on track to meet the emerging requirements. India is now testing an approximate 110,000 samples per day. Capacity has been increased by augmenting the number of labs, shifts, RT-PCR machines and manpower.