India's COVID-19 recoveries go past 26 lakh, fatality rate drops to 1.81 pc: Health ministry

India's COVID-19 recoveries have crossed 26 lakh pushing the recovery rate to 76.47 per cent, which the Centre said has been made possible due to the strategic policy of "testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently" in supervised home-isolation, facility-isolation and hospitals.

India's COVID-19 recoveries have crossed 26 lakh pushing the recovery rate to 76.47 per cent, which the Centre said has been made possible due to the strategic policy of "testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently" in supervised home-isolation, facility-isolation and hospitals. The case fatality rate (CFR) has also been low when compared to the global average. It is on a continuous decline and currently stands at 1.81 per cent, the ministry underlined on Saturday.

A significant feature of India's management of COVID-19 cases is the growing rate of recovered patients. A higher number of patients are recovering and being discharged from hospitals and home isolation, it highlighted. These recoveries are being achieved because of adherence to the 'National Standard Treatment Protocol' by all health facilities across the country, and due to daily monitoring of positive cases under home-isolation, the ministry said.

With 65,050 patients having recuperated from COVID-19 in 24 hours, the total number of recoveries have surged to 26,48,998. "The recovery rate is following a continuous upward incline whereas the COVID-19 case fatality rate is constantly declining," the ministry said. The Centre has been regularly interacting with states that are showing higher fatality rates.

There is a sharp focus on skilled doctors to man the ICUs. AIIMS, New Delhi, through its teleconsultation sessions every Tuesday and Friday is building the clinical treatment capabilities and skills of the doctors in the states and Union Territories, it said. "With better ambulance services ensuring reduced response time, focus on standard of care and use of non-invasive oxygen, steroids and anticoagulants, the recovery rate has now reached 76.47 per cent," the ministry said.

As many as 7,52,424 active cases of coronavirus infection, which is the "actual caseload of the country" comprises only 21.72 per cent of the total cases. The patients are under active medical supervision, it said. With a consistent and sustained increase in recoveries, the gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases have reached nearly 19 lakh, it added. India's COVID-19 tally rose to 34,63,972 with a single-day spike of 76,472 instances of new infections, while the death toll climbed to 62,550 with 1,021 people succumbing to the diseases in 24 hours, the Union home ministry data updated at 8 am showed.