New Delhi: India went past Russia Sunday to become the third worst-hit nation after the US and Brazil, with its Covid caseload now nearing the 7-lakh mark.
India has now recorded over 20,000 new cases for four days in a row, and the toll is up to 19,693 after 1,480 deaths over the weekend. Testings, as usual, saw a dip Sunday but their numbers have crossed the 1-crore mark.
Active cases
Even though over 40,000 fresh cases were reported over the weekend, proportionate recoveries ensured the number of active cases went up by just 30,000 since Friday. This signifies the pool from which possible transmission can happen.
Daily tests
There was usual Sunday dip in the number of tests, with only 1,80,596 samples having been tested. This is almost a quarter less than the 2.4 lakh-odd peak tests conducted on the weekdays. During the last 24 hours, 3,46,459 samples have been tested. The cumulative number of samples tested as of now is 1,01,35,525.
Number of deaths
Over the weekend, 1,480 people died of Covid, taking the total to 19,693. The daily deaths are steadily on the rise, as are cases.
Positivity rate
On a day when the sample positivity rate touched a high of 13.4%, the Government of India claimed in a statement: “As part of the coordinated efforts, the Union government has emphasized on increasing testing, prompt contact tracing and timely clinical management of the cases…This has resulted in reduced positivity in the country. Currently the national Positivity Rate stands at 6.73%.”
Recovered cases
The Ministry of Health for many days now has been keeping count of the pandemic only with recovered cases. Currently, the total number of recovered cases stands at 4,24,432. This is over 60 per cent of the total cases in the country.
Total cases
India currently has a total of 6,97,413 Covid-19 cases. The number will inevitably cross 7 lakh Tuesday.
High-burden states
Delhi: The national capital is now the showcase of the Government of India. A statement said Monday: “As a result of concerted and focused efforts by Government of India, the average number of samples being tested per day which was only 5481 (1st-5th June 2020) has witnessed a huge increase to reach an average of 18,766 samples per day between 1st to 5th July 2020. In spite of significantly increased testing in Delhi, the positivity rate has seen a substantial decrease from about 30% to 10% in the last three weeks.”
Gujarat: Gujarat accounts for about 10% of all deaths in the country but just 5% of all cases. The high mortality in the state has remained a persistent issue.
Tamil Nadu: Tamil Nadu and Delhi are in a dubious competition to be the state with the second highest number of Covid cases. However, one has a population of 2 crore and the other has nearly 7 crore. Tamil Nadu also has an impressive mortality rate of just over 1%.
Maharashtra: Over the weekend, Maharashtra breached the 2-lakh mark to remain the state with the most number of cases. The total number of deaths stands at 8,822.
Tests and positive cases
The wide disparities in testing in the high burden states persist. Yet, interestingly, Tamil Nadu’s positivity rate is 12% while that of Gujarat is 9.7%.
