Highlights
- As on August 18, India's Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is at 1.92%: Government
- India is aggressively implementing ‘Test, Track, Treat’: Health Ministry
- For COVID-19 testing, 1,476 labs are operational in India
New Delhi: Around 25 per cent patients of total coronavirus cases are in the hospital or home isolation, Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday (August 18). Addressing a press conference here, Rajesh Bhushan, Union Health Secretary deliberated major highlights of COVID19 updates. “India has conducted more than three crore COVID-19 tests so far. In the last 24 hours, India has performed nearly 9 lakh tests which is 8,99,864 tests. Another important thing is that number of recovered patients has reached to more than 19.70 lakh. Recovered cases are 2.93 times of active cases,” Mr Bhushan said.
If we look at total COVID-19 cases, there are 27,02,743 cases in the country till now, only 25 per cent people of total coronavirus cases are in home isolation or else in hospital, added Mr Bhushan.
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According to the data of Health Ministry, the actual case load of the country for example the active cases is 6,73,166 (24.91 per cent) against total COVID-19 cases which are in home isolation or in hospital. The figure is exhibiting a steady downward trajectory.
Mr Bhushan said as a result of aggressive implementation of the TEST, TRACK, TREAT, the average daily recovered cases now more than 55,000.
India’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is below two per cent. Presently, it is at 1.92 per cent, he said.
According to the health ministry, there are at least 30 States/UTs are reporting lower CFR than the national average.
The Union Health Ministry also said that the trends in COVID-19 cases over the last few days (13-17 August) have been “reassuring”, however, it warned that India being a huge country with a massive population needs to be cautious as a challenge against COVID-19 still persists.
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The government stated it in the context of aggressive testing and declining COVID mortality rate.
If we look at the daily cases since August 13 till today, it has gone down from over 64,000 to 55,000. On August 14, the numbers were 64,000. On August 15, it came to 63,000, on August 16 it was 57,000 and 55,000 on August 17. There is a reducing trend of active cases. But in a pandemic time, five days’ time is a very less time period. It is not much satisfactory but it shows that states and central government’s efforts on Covid-19 containment strategy, said Mr Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
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In case of COVID-19 deaths, the number indicates that on August 13 — it was 1,007, August 14 — it was 996, August 15 — it was 944, August 16 — it was 941 and August 17 — it was 176. So, there is a downward trend if we look at the absolute COVID deaths, Mr Bhushan said adding that case fatality rate too.
This is a bit satisfactory but there is no reason to slacken our guard against coronavirus. We have to be alert and follow containment, surveillance, and testing at the same aggressive pace, said Mr Bhushan.
As on date, 1,476 total labs are operational with 971 labs in the government sector and 505 private labs. These include, Real-Time RT PCR testing labs (755), TrueNat testing labs: 604 and CBNAAT testing labs (117).
On Tuesday (August 18), India saw a spike of 55,079 cases and 876 deaths due to coronavirus. COVID-19 count in the country rose to 27,02,743 so far.
Also Read: India Fighting Against Coronavirus Crisis, Conducts Over 3 Crore COVID-19 Tests: Health Ministry
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
NDTV – Dettol Banega Swasth India campaign is an extension of the five-year-old Banega Swachh India initiative helmed by Campaign Ambassador Amitabh Bachchan. It aims to spread awareness about critical health issues facing the country. In wake of the current COVID-19 pandemic, the need for WASH (Water, Sanitation and Hygiene) is reaffirmed as handwashing is one of the ways to prevent Coronavirus infection and other diseases. The campaign highlights the importance of nutrition and healthcare for women and children to prevent maternal and child mortality, fight malnutrition, stunting, wasting, anaemia and disease prevention through vaccines. Importance of programmes like Public Distribution System (PDS), Mid-day Meal Scheme, POSHAN Abhiyan and the role of Aganwadis and ASHA workers are also covered. Only a Swachh or clean India where toilets are used and open defecation free (ODF) status achieved as part of the Swachh Bharat Abhiyan launched by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2014, can eradicate diseases like diahorrea and become a Swasth or healthy India. The campaign will continue to cover issues like air pollution, waste management, plastic ban, manual scavenging and sanitation workers and menstrual hygiene.
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