Record 7 lakh Covid-19 tests conducted in a day; recovery rate rises to 68.78%: Health Ministry

Scaling up testing capacity, over seven lakh samples have been examined for Covid-19 in a day taking the cumulative tests conducted so far to 2,41,06,535, the Union Health Ministry said on Sunday.

The number of recoveries too has surged to 14,80,884 with 53,879 coronavirus patients having recuperated and discharged in 24-hours, the highest in a day so far, pushing the recovery rate to 68.78 per cent. The fatality rate has further dropped to 2.01 per cent, it said.

The ministry said the number of single-day tests has been growing exponentially and India has been testing over six lakh samples daily for several days.

For latest updates on Coronavirus outbreak, click here

"A record 7,19,364 samples have been tested on Saturday, the highest in a day so far. India is conducting around 500 tests for detection of Covid-19 per minute and the per-day testing capacity has increased over five lakhs," Scientist and media coordinator at ICMR, Dr Lokesh Sharma said.

Such elevated level of testing will also lead to high number of daily positive cases, the health ministry said, adding states have been advised to firmly focus on comprehensive tracking, prompt isolation and effective treatment, following the Centre-led strategy of 'test, track and treat'.

The number of recoveries has surged to 14,80,884 with 53,879 coronavirus patients having recuperated and discharged in 24-hours, the highest in a day so far, pushing the recovery rate to 68.78 per cent. The fatality rate has further dropped to 2.01 per cent, the ministry said.

Recoveries are over twice the number of active cases (6,28,747) of coronavirus infection at present.

"The number of recovered cases has touched another high of 2.36 times the active cases. All patients are all under medical attention either in home isolation or in hospitals," the ministry said.

From 7.69 per cent on April 5, the recovery rate improved to 26.59 per cent on May 3, 48.37 per cent on June 7 and to 68.78 per cent as on date, it said.

"The widening gap between recovered and active cases, indicative of the higher number of recoveries as compared to those either in hospitals or in home isolation, is 8,52,137 at present," the ministry said.

It said the high number of recoveries is a result of focused implementation of various actions taken by the Centre, state and Union Territories towards ramping up hospital and clinical management infrastructure for providing quality clinical care based on the standard of care, as advised by the Union government in its Clinical Treatment Protocol.

"Due to these efforts, the case fatality rate has further slumped, touching an improved rate of 2.01 per cent today," the ministry said.

With a record single-day increase of 64,399 cases, India's Covid-19 tally mounted to 21.53 lakh, while the death toll climbed to 43,379 with 861 new fatalities being reported in a day, the health ministry's data updated at 8 am showed.