India adding COVID-19 cases faster despite 48.2% recoveries

India has been making a steady recovery from COVID-19 but also reporting new infections at a faster rate. On Saturday, India reported its highest ever new cases – 9,887 in a single day – adding more than 9,000 cases for the third consecutive day.

The death toll due to COVID-19 also reported a record hike of 294 in a single day, taking the total fatalities to 6,642 since the outbreak was first reported in India on January 30.

India has a total of 2,36,657 confirmed cases of COVID-19, including 1,14,073 who have recovered and 1,15942 who are receiving treatment in various dedicated facilities for treating the infectious disease.

As of Saturday, 48.20% of the total COVID-19 patients have recovered from the illness and been discharged from hospitals.

While the COVID-19 recoveries were being reported at a steady 4% every day, the increase in active cases has been slightly at a higher rate of 4.3%.

As many as 60% fresh infections were being reported from states such as Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi and Gujarat, a surge in cases was also being witnessed in states such as Karnataka (515), Uttar Pradesh (496), West Bengal (427), Kerala (111), Jharkhand (88).

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According to an analysis by economist Shamika Ravi, Delhi at 37.84 has the highest death rate per million people in states with 150 plus cases, followed by Maharashtra (23.13) and Gujarat (18.63).

Of the 294 deaths reported since Friday morning, 139 were in Maharashtra, 58 in Delhi, 35 in Gujarat, 12 each in Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh, 11 in West Bengal, eight in Telangana, seven in Madhya Pradesh, five in Rajasthan, two in Andhra Pradesh and one each in Jammu and Kashmir, Odisha, Punjab Jharkhand and Uttarakhand.

According to the health ministry, Maharashtra is the worst-hit state with 80,229 confirmed cases, followed by Tamil Nadu (28,694), Delhi (26,334), Gujarat (19,094), Rajasthan (10,084), Uttar Pradesh (9,733) and Madhya Pradesh (8,996).

The Indian Council of Medical Research has further ramped up the testing capacity for COVID-19 by roping in 520 government labs and 222 private institutions. On Friday, a total of 1,37,938 samples were tested, taking the total number of samples tested thus far to 45,24,317.