COVID-19: India's mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world, says Health Ministry

Union Health Ministry said on Tuesday that India's COVID-19 mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world at 1.58 per cent and active cases are only 22.2 per cent of the total cases. Meanwhile, out of the total COVID-19 active cases in India, only 2.7% patients are on oxygen support, 1.92% patients are in ICU and 0.29% patients are on ventilator support. 

Addressing a press conference here, Union Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan said that the recovered cases are 3.4 times more than the active cases and recovery rate is more than 75 per cent.
 

"The COVID-19 mortality rate in India stands at 1.58 per cent which is one of the lowest in the world. In the last 24 hours, the number of active cases has reduced by 6,400. Active cases are only 22.2 per cent of the total cases. As of August 25, 3.68 crore sample tests were conducted in the country. The recovered cases are 3.4 times more than the active cases in the country. The recovery rate is now more than 75 per cent," Bhushan said.
 

He said the positivity percentage on the basis of seven-day rolling average was 11 per cent in the first week of August which has now come down to eight per cent. Meanwhile, India's total Covid cases rise to 31,67,324 of which 7,04,348 are active cases while 2,404,586 people have recovered. 58,390 people have died so far.

READ: COVID-19: ICMR DG lauds rise in testing, acknowledges large share of rapid antigen tests

READ: Coronavirus LIVE Updates: India's recovery rate at 75.92%; DK Shivakumar test positive

ICMR DG lauds increase in testing

Addressing the media, ICMR Director General Dr. Balram Bhargava elaborated on India's success in ramping up COVID-19 testing in the past 6 months. Mentioning the fact that the country breached the one million testing mark, he highlighted that testing had been increased gradually. While conceding that rapid antigen tests constitute 30-40% of the overall tests conducted in India, Dr. Bhargava affirmed that RT-PCR tests are growing at a rapid rate.

According to him, some states had reduced RT-PCR tests by 1-3% after finding rapid antigen tests simpler. Observing that the specificity is nearly 100% for both types of tests, the ICMR DG revealed that the sensitivity of the rapid antigen test is 60-85% as against the RT-PCR test having a sensitivity of 80-95%. At the same time, he added that a negative antigen test has to be followed by an RT-PCR test in the case of symptomatic patients. 

READ: Karnataka relaxes inter-state movement; revokes quarantine, isolation, testing travellers

READ: WHO says 172 countries engaging with COVAX vaccine plan, asks for 'crucial funds'