New Delhi: For the second consecutive day, India tested over 6 lakh samples for Covid-19, bringing down the positivity rate.
However, with 25-30 per cent of the tests being conducted as rapid antigen tests, which is not the gold standard RT-PCR test, it may still be too early for relief until a breakup of antigen tests results is released.
Deaths are continuing to rise as are cases. Maharashtra has upped its testing game and Delhi seems to be testing less with every passing day.
Active cases
The total active cases in the country is now nearing 6 lakh, which is less than a third of the total Covid burden in the country. In the last 24 hours, 52,509 fresh cases were reported.
Number of deaths
Daily Covid deaths continue to rise. In the last 24 hours, 857 more deaths were reported taking the total to 39,795. This is 2.2 per cent of the new cases reported 15 days ago on 21 July.
In India, the case fatality rate (CFR) almost exactly mirrors daily deaths as a percentage of new cases a fortnight ago which means the average time lapse between diagnosis and death is 15 days. This is in accordance with the international experience.
Mortality rate
Between 3.88 per cent in Gujarat and 0.15 per cent in Sikkim, the mortality rate varies widely across states. The national average currently stands at 2.11 per cent, among the lowest rates among countries with a high disease burden. It is, however, high in comparison to other South East Asian countries.
Daily tests
India conducted 6,19,652 tests in the past 24 hours, taking the total to 2,14,84,402. The testing lab network in the country currently stands at a total of 1,356 labs — 917 government labs and 439 private labs. These include RT-PCR labs (420 govt and 271 private), Truenat-based testing labs (465 govt and 93 private) and CBNAAT-based labs (32 govt and 75 private).
Positivity rate
The positivity rate today stands at 8.4 per cent. During the weekly Covid briefing Tuesday, Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) chief Dr Balram Bhargava said the two situations in which testing needs to be increased are if tests are lower than 14 per lakh population and if the test positivity is over 10. India currently runs over 1,500 tests per lakh population.
Recovered cases
Right now, over two-thirds of the total disease burden in the country comprises people who have recovered from the disease. With 51,706 Covid-19 patients recovering in the last 24 hours, the recovery rate has reached a new high of 67.19 per cent.
Total cases
The total cases in the country currently stand at 19,08,254. This makes India the country with the third-highest disease burden in the world, and the only one among the worst affected countries where both daily cases and daily deaths are rising. The daily numbers are now the highest in India.
High burden states
In the last 24 hours, Karnataka reported 4,752 new cases and 100 deaths. The growth rate in the state is 4.66 per cent, over a percentage point higher than the national average. The positivity rate though is below 10.
Maharashtra currently has 4,57,956 confirmed cases and 16,142 deaths. In the last 24 hours, 8,968 fresh cases and 266 deaths were reported. The recovery rate currently stands at 63.76 per cent.
Tamil Nadu reported 5,609 cases and 109 deaths in the last 24 hours. It conducts one of the highest daily tests in the country. However, the daily positivity rate is just above 10, which shows the state needs to further increase testing.
Andhra Pradesh‘s testing push has ensured that even as cases rise, its fatality rate remains below one. However, because of the increase in testing has happened only recently, daily positivity rate remains a high 15 per cent.
After being a backbencher in June, Delhi has suddenly emerged as a model for other states with reduced cases, empty beds and reduced deaths. In the last 24 hours, 805 cases and 18 deaths were reported.
Tests and positive cases
Maharashtra has now displaced Tamil Nadu in the second place for testing, just behind Andhra Pradesh which is the leader, having tested 64,147 samples in the last 24 hours. Delhi did less than 10,000 tests.