New Delhi: India’s doubling rate of COVID-19 positive cases has taken a dip and currently stands at 6.2 days instead of the earlier three days, the Union Health Ministry said on Friday. Lav Agrawal, Joint Secretary of Health and Family Welfare on Friday said before the lockdown, doubling rate of COVID-19 cases was about three days, but according to the data of the past 7 days, the doubling rate of cases now stands at 6.2 days.

As reported by ANI, Aggarwal said that the doubling rate in 19 States and Union Territories are even lower than the average doubling rate.

He further added that the doubling rate is lower than the national average in 19 States and UTs including Kerala, Uttarakhand, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, Chandigarh, Ladakh, Puducherry, Delhi, Bihar, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Punjab, Assam, Tripura, etc.

"We are intensifying our efforts to reduce this doubling rate," Aggarwal said.


The Health Ministry official also said that the ratio between number of patients recovered and number of deaths is 80:20 and 13.6 per cent people have recovered so far.

The news is a big relief amid the novel coronavirus scare in the country. Agarwal said that the ministry has analysed the data of cases of novel coronavirus in the country in many ways. It has been found that the rate of recovery of the patient is higher than that of the deceased.

"At least 1,749 people recovered so far which is 13.6 per cent as on today." He also said that the doubling rate that means in how many days numbers of cases get doubled in the country has also reduced.


"Our doubling rate of the number of cases is 6.2 days. The analysis is based on data of the last 7 days. It was 3 days before the lockdown. It is a product of how we are managing situations at field level. This is an ongoing process. We need to intensify our vigil to reduce the doubling rate even more," said Agarwal.

Lav Agrawal also added that a total of 23 new deaths have been recorded across the country in the last 24 hours, taking the overall death toll to 452. The total number of coronavirus cases in India on Friday evening reached 13,835, including foreign nationals, with 11,616 active cases, the Union Health Ministry informed during the daily press briefing.


The Health Ministry said that 452 deaths have been reported in India so far, with the highest -- 194 -- getting reported from Maharashtra, followed by Madhya Pradesh, where 57 deaths have been reported so far.

Maharashtra remained the worst hit state with total number of positive cases rising to 3,205, followed by New Delhi at 1,640 cases, Tamil Nadu at 1,267 cases and Rajasthan at 1,131 cases, according to the Health Ministry data.