India on Saturday witnessed a steep increase in the number of discharged patients as 11,264 people were released from hospitals, even as Covid-19 cases saw spiked by nearly 8,000 in a single day.
In a boost to the country's battle against the coronavirus, active cases also registered a dip on Saturday for the first time compared with the previous day.
The total number of recoveries now stands at 82,370, which the health ministry said has "resulted in a recovery rate of 47.40% amongst Covid-19 patients, an increase of 4.51% in the recovery rate from the previous day’s recovery rate of 42.89%”.
The rise in discharges amid a record surge in positive cases is due to the Health Ministry's revised guidelines. The ministry tweaked its discharge policy on May 9 to allow early release of patients depending on the severity of their illness.
“The discharge rate has accelerated after the change in the policy. It is also important to note that patients have anyway recovered, but we were taking more time in their discharge,” V K Paul, Member (Health), Niti Aayog, had told reporters.
He said the large number of recoveries also helped free up hospital beds for new patients.
Prior to the revision in discharge policy, India was reporting an average of 1,500 recoveries every day. That number almost doubled after the new discharge policy was announced and implemented.
India had reported 11,264 recoveries on Saturday morning as against the 3,414 on Friday, 3,265 on Thursday and 3,936 on Wednesday.
Dip in active cases
Active Covid-19 cases also witnessed a dip for the first time on Saturday when compared to the previous day.
According to the health ministry, India had 86,422 active Covid-19 cases as on Saturday morning as against the 89,987 reported on Friday morning.
The total number of cases also witnessed a sharp increase — 7,964 in a single day — to touch 1,73,763.
“As total cases rise, India's ACTIVE cases have declined for the first time compared to the previous day. Have we begun to bend the curve? Need a few more days to establish this,” economist Shamika Ravi said.
For health authorities, it is the number of active cases that matter as it refers to the patients in hospital who require treatment.