Health Ministry Says Covid-19 Recovered Cases Double The Active Patients; Fatality Rate Lowest Since First Lockdown

This is the first time after the first lockdown that the fatality rate is at the lowest, at 2.10 per cent. Fatality rate has seen a progressive decline and it is continuing, which is a good sign," Health Ministry officials said.

Migrant labours undergo thermal screening at Dadar railway station, in wake of the coronavirus pandemic. (Image: PTI)

New Delhi: Sixth day straight in a row, India on Tuesday again recorded Covid-19 cases over half a lakh. Country's total Coronavirus tally crossed 18.5 lakh mark as it registered over 50 thousand fresh cases and more than 800 deaths in 24 past hours.  Briefing on the latest updates, actions and preparedness, Health Ministry Secretary Rajesh Bhushan in a press conference in Delhi on Tuesday said that over 2 crore tests have been conducted so far with more than 6.6 lakh tests conducted in 24 hours itself. Recovered cases are now double of active cases while the case fatality rate is also the lowest since the first lockdown. "Currently, 5,86,298 active COVID-19 cases are in India and over 12 lakh people have recovered. 50 per cent deaths due to COVID-19 have taken place among the age group of 60 years or above, and 37 per cent deaths took place in the age group between 45 to 60 years," Rajesh Bhushan said.

Over 2 crore tests conducted so far; more than 6.6 lakh tests conducted in 24 hours. Recovered cases are now double of active cases while the case fatality rate is also the lowest since the first lockdown: @MoHFW_INDIA Media briefing on #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/XlUaZiGq8F

— PIB India (@PIB_India) August 4, 2020

"This is the first time after the first lockdown that the fatality rate is at the lowest, at 2.10 per cent. Fatality rate has seen a progressive decline and it is continuing, which is a good sign," official added. He further mentioned that the cumulative positivist cases in India stands at 8.89 per cent. States with less than 10 per cent of positive cases include Punjab, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Assam, West Bengal and Karnataka. Last week's positive case ratio of India was 11 per cent, which means a few states are showing rise in COVID-19 cases. COVID-19 VACCINES Briefing about the vaccine development in India, Dr Balram Bhargava, the Director General of Indian Council of Medical Research, told media that at present, there are three Indian vaccines which are in different phases of clinical testing. The 2 vaccines- Bharat Biotech vaccine and DNA vaccine of Zydus Cadila have completed phase 1 and will begin phase 2. He went onto say that Oxford vaccine, being manufactured by Serum Institute of India got approval for phase 2 and 3 clinical trials, which are starting within a week at 17 sites. COVID-19 VENTILATOR Talking of the Indian market of the ventilators at during the Coronavirus pandemic, Health Ministry officials said that share of 'Make in India' ventilators, in 60,000 ventilators which we'll get, is 96 per cent by volume and over 90 per cent by value. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Andhra Med-Tech Zone (AMTZ) played major role. BEL giving 30,000 and AMTZ giving 13,500 ventilators. In 2019, Indian ventilator market was roughly estimated as 8,510 units valued at Rs 444.74 Crore. Because of COVID-19, in March domestic manufacturers imported various components. It wouldn't have been possible to make ventilators without import then.