New Delhi: The see-saw in India’s testing numbers became apparent once again when just three days after testing a record of almost 15 lakh samples, the numbers almost halved over the weekend.
However, overall, the Covid situation in the past week was relatively better as the daily positive cases did not breach the 90,000-mark, even as the disease burden in India continues to be a matter of global concern.
Active cases
The active cases in India have been hovering around the 10-million mark for some time now, despite the fact that new cases and recoveries are almost neck and neck now. In the last 24 hours, for example, active cases exceeded recoveries by only 6,238.
Number of deaths
In the last 24 hours, 1,039 people succumbed to Covid-19 taking the total to 95,542. India’s case fatality rate currently stands at 1.57 per cent, which is less than half the global average.
Mortality rate
Punjab has, once again, seen an increase in its case fatality rate over the weekend, making it a rare state where the proportion of deaths seems to be on the rise. It is one of only three states with a CFR greater than 2 — the other two being Maharashtra and Gujarat.
Daily Testing
In the last 24 hours, 7,09,394 samples were tested. This is about half of last week’s high of 14,92,409 tests in a single day on 24 September. There is usually a dip in testing on Sunday, but this week the numbers are even lower than the previous week.
Positivity rate
The dip in testing numbers has pushed the sample positivity rate beyond 10 per cent once more, which is a red flag. For all the samples tested for Covid in India since the beginning of the pandemic, the positivity rate is 8.41 per cent.
Recovered cases
India’s total recoveries crossed the 50-lakh mark today (50,16,520). India’s steady trend of posting high levels of daily recoveries everyday continues and in the last 24 hours, 74,893 recoveries have been registered in the country.
Total cases
India has now crossed the 6-million mark in cases, even as the number of daily cases have come down slightly. In all of last week, the daily cases stayed below 90,000, which has given rise to some hope.
High burden states
Maharashtra recorded 8,056 fresh cases and 382 deaths in the last 24 hours. Its total Covid case tally stands at 13,39,232, which includes 35,571 deaths. Currently, the state has 2,73,646 active cases.
Andhra Pradesh has registered a total of 6,75,674 cases of which less than 10 per cent — 64,876 cases — are active. The state has a doubling time of almost 65 days and its CFR has been on a downward trajectory, currently standing at 0.84 per cent.
Karnataka has seen 9,543 cases in the last 24 hours along with 79 deaths. The total number of cases in the state currently is 5,75,566 of which about one-fifth (1,04,743) are positive cases. The CFR remains below the national average at 1.49 per cent.
Tamil Nadu’s 5,791 cases and 80 deaths in the last 24 hours have taken its total cases to 5,80,808. However, the state now has a CFR of 1.60 per cent, which is higher than the national average and the doubling time is 72.5 days.
Uttar Pradesh reported 4,250 cases and 77 deaths in the last 24 hours. The state currently has 55,603 active cases while its total Covid load so far is 3,87,085.
Testing and positive cases
Maharashtra, the state with the most number of Covid cases in the country, tested the least number of samples in the last 24 hours among the high burden states. Its positivity rate shot up to 23 per cent while UP’s fell to 2.7 per cent.