WHO Report Shows India’s COVID-19 Tally, Fatality Rate Per Million Population Lowest In World: Health Ministry

New Delhi: India’s total number of coronavirus cases and fatalities per million population is one of the lowest in the world, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday even as the country’s infection tally went past the 7 lakh-mark and the death tally rose to 20,160. Referring to the ‘WHO Situation Report-168′ dated July 6, the ministry said India’s COVID-19 cases per million population is 505.37 as against the global average of 1,453.25.

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Chile has witnessed 15,459.8 COVID-19 cases per million population, while Peru has 9,070.8 cases per million people. The US, Brazil, Spain, Russia, the UK, Italy and Mexico have 8,560.5, 7,419.1, 5,358.7, 4,713.5, 4,204.4, 3,996.1 and 1,955.8 cases per million, respectively, according to the WHO report. The ministry said,

The WHO Situation Report also shows that India has one of the lowest deaths (due to COVID-19) per million population. India’s cases of death per million population is 14.27 while the global average is more than its four times, at 68.29.

The United Kingdom has 651.4 COVID-19 related deaths per million population, while the metric for Spain, Italy, France, the USA, Peru, Brazil and Mexico is 607.1, 576.6, 456.7, 391.0, 315.8, 302.3 and 235.5 deaths, respectively, the WHO report said.

India has ramped up its hospital infrastructure to adequately and effectively manage coronavirus cases, the ministry said. The preparedness includes arrangement of oxygen support, ICU and ventilator facilities. As on July 7, there are 1,201 dedicated COVID hospitals, 2,611 COVID healthcare centres and 9,909 COVID care centres to look after patients with ‘very severe’ to ‘very mild’ coronavirus symptoms, it said. The ministry said,

Such level of preparedness has shown results in continuously improving the recovery rate and resulting in low case fatality rate. Early detection and timely effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases have resulted in increasing daily recoveries.

During the last 24 hours, a total of 15,515 COVID-19 patients have been cured, taking the cumulative figure of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients in the country to 4,39,947 as on Tuesday.

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Coordinated efforts at all levels of the national and state governments for prevention, containment and management of COVID-19 are showing encouraging results with consistently increasing gap between recoveries and active cases. Presently, there are 2,59,557 active cases and all are under medical supervision. As on date, the number of recovered cases exceeded that of the active cases by 1,80,390 on Tuesday. The recovery rate among COVID-19 patients has increased to 61.13 per cent, it said.

Enhanced focus on “Test, Trace, Treat” augmented with various measures has facilitated widespread COVID-19 testing by states and Union territories. This has resulted in more than 2 lakh tests being conducted per day, the ministry said. It also said that during the last 24 hours, 2,41,430 samples have been tested. With this, the total number of samples tested for COVID-19 nationwide stands at 1,02,11,092. According to the health ministry, the testing lab network of the country continues to expand with more number of laboratories being added in various states and UTs. With 793 labs in the government sector and 322 private labs, there are as many as 1,115 labs in the country, it added.

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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.