The death toll due to Covid-19 witnessed a spike on Wednesday with 71 persons succumbing to the viral infection in a single day, taking the total casualties to 1008.
However, the Centre pointed out that the death rate due to the respiratory infection was at 3.17% as against the global mortality rate of 7%.
About 86% of those Covid-19 patients who have succumbed to Covid-19 so far also had co-morbid conditions such as acute diabetes and hypertension, Health Minister Harshvardhan said here.
The total number of confirmed Covid-19 cases increased by 1,813 in a single day to 31,787 of which 7,797 have been cured and discharged.
The minister noted that the doubling rate number of cases too had slowed down to 11.3 days over the past three days.
“Only 0.33% Covid-19 patients are on ventilators, 1.5 % patients are on oxygen support and 2.34 % patients are in the ICU, which reflects the quality of care being provided across the country,” Harshvardhan said.
At least 288 government laboratories are working along with 97 private lab chains with around 16,000 sample collection centres which are testing around 60,000 samples per day, according to health ministry data.
“The government is working hard to increase the testing capacity to 1 lakh tests per day within the next few days,” the health minister said.
For a better collection of data on testing, the Centre also launched an RT-PCR App for those conducting the tests in laboratories across the country.
Indian Council of Medical Research Director General Balram Bhargava emphasised on the importance of the meticulousness in the collection of samples and filling up of the accompanying forms.
He also asked state governments to start using the RT-PCR App immediately.
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