New Delhi: Even as India continues to flaunt its death rate per million population as the lowest in the world, the absolute numbers still look daunting — 648 people died in the last 24 hours.
While the government by way of its daily dose of good news announced Wednesday that the country had seen the most number of discharges in a day, the sample positivity rates remain worryingly high not just nationally but even in a state like Tamil Nadu that has been among the most aggressive when it comes to testing.
On Wednesday, India also received its first tranche of 4,475 oxygen concentrators from Singapore of a total of 20,000 expected. These devices will be made available to states and UTs for use in management of moderate cases of Covid-19.
Number of deaths
Even as the Government of India claims success citing India’s death rate per million population, which is 20.4, the figure looks less happy in absolute numbers. In the last 24 hours alone, 648 people died of Covid, taking the total to 28,732 since the first death on 12 March.
Mortality rate
Gujarat is still at the bottom of the mortality rate heap, but the figure has improved following a number of measures by the state government. Among states whose mortalities are higher than the national average are Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, West Bengal, Delhi, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Recovery rate
In the last 24 hours, as many as 28,472 people have recovered. This is also the highest number of Covid-19 patients to be cured/discharged in 24 hours. With this, the number of recovered patients now stands at 7,53,049. This has strongly boosted the recovery rate among Covid-19 patients to 63.13%.
Active cases
The total number of active Covid cases in the country currently stands at 4,11,133. Of these, about 9% — 37,724 — were reported in the last 24 hours.
Total cases
This is the number that the government is wary of highlighting — India’s total Covid burden of 11,92,915 cases. Over 60 per cent of these are recovered cases.
Daily tests
In the last 24 hours, 3,43,243 samples were tested — this number has come a long way from the 40,000-odd a day that India would do about three months ago. But, so has the spread of the disease.
Positivity rate
Positivity rate of samples tested is what gives an idea about the spread of the disease and whether the testing numbers have kept pace with it. India’s stands at 10.9% today, about double of what is considered “ideal”.
High-burden states
Maharashtra has seen visits by central teams, political statements and bureaucrats being transferred. But nothing has changed its status as the state with the largest Covid burden — 3,27,031 cases and 12,276 deaths.
Tamil Nadu has been doing aggressive testing, but the state has a positivity rate of 9.9%, which means there is major room to further step up testing. The mortality rate, though, is an impressive 1.63% for a state with such a huge burden.
Delhi is still in the top 5, but the disease it seems has turned a corner in the capital. The daily cases have come to less than a half of what they were a month ago even though testing has gone up. However, as the sero survey revealed, 77% of the population is still vulnerable.
Karnataka has just exited a lockdown and remains firmly in the top 5 states with 71,069 cases and 1,464 deaths. The state has blamed interstate travellers but stopped short of officially admitting community transmission even after a state official was quoted as saying that the uncontrolled spread has set in.
Andhra Pradesh has reported 58,668 cases and 758 deaths. The problem is nearly 45% of those cases have happened in the last one week, bringing the state that was cruising along to the top 5 Covid hall of shame.
Tests and positive cases
All the states in the top five have significantly ramped up testing, with Tamil Nadu continuing to lead the pack. Delhi at 20,852 — about three quarters of that are antigen tests — is testing less than its peak of about 25,000.
Also read: ‘Self-imposed’ prevention measures, social distancing can stop second Covid wave, study says