Centre flashes recovery rate as India sees biggest spike in COVID-19 cases

Centre on Wednesday claimed that its approach of identifying COVID-19 cases early is reaping dividends as nearly 40 per cent of those infected with the virus have recovered so far, sending a strong signal that the disease was curable.

“More than 39.6 per cent of the confirmed cases have recovered, bringing the total to 42,298 recoveries as of today (Wednesday). This is a reminder that the disease is curable and the clinical management protocols adopted by India are effective,” Lav Aggarwal, Joint Secretary, Health Ministry, told reporters at a press briefing organised by the government after a gap of 10 days.

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The Centre’s claims came on a day India witnessed its sharpest spike in confirmed COVID-19 infections – a rise of 5,611 cases in a single day, taking the total to 1,06,750 on Wednesday morning. The death toll also increased by 140 in a single day to reach 3,303. A separate DH Covid-19 Tracker put the death toll at 3,422 and the total confirmed cases 1,11,720 at 8:30 p.m. on Wednesday.

Aggarwal presented statistics comparing India with 15 worst-hit countries whose cumulative population was 1.42 billion, a shade higher than the 1.32 billion of India. He said 15 countries including the US, UK, Russia, Italy, Spain, France, Brazil, Turkey, Iran accounted for 36.45 lakh cases, while India had registered just above one lakh cases as on Wednesday.

Aggarwal also pointed out that these 15 countries had a combined death toll of 2.73 lakh as against the 3,303 deaths in India.

“These combined population of these countries is similar to that of India’s, yet they have recorded 34 times more cases and 83 times more deaths than India,” he said.

“This statistic is not about a satisfactory situation for India. How we medically manage a positive case, how we are able to save a patient’s life and focus on good health care decides if we are doing a satisfactory job,” Aggarwal said.

He said that 2.9% of all the active cases under treatment require oxygen support, about 3 % of the active cases require ICU support and 0.45 % of the active cases require ventilator support.