Over 20 lakh cured of COVID in India; recovery rate crosses 73%

India crossed the 20-lakh mark in the number of recoveries on Tuesday (August 18), increasing the recovery rate to 73.39 per cent. As of 8.00 pm, the country had 27,32,218 confirmed cases, while the death toll increased to 52,280, with as many as 30,616 fresh cases and 355 new deaths. So far, 3,09 crore samples have been tested.

The Union Health Ministry said the positivity rate of COVID-19 has come down from 10.03 per cent to 7.72 per cent despite the sustained level of testing. Health Secretary Rajesh Bhushan gave five major highlights of the past week. “An important part is recovered patients are nearly 20 lakh which is 2.93 times of active cases,” he said.

Tamil Nadu recorded 5,709 fresh cases taking the tally to 3,49,654, while 121 more deaths pushed the toll to 6,007. With 5,850 patients getting discharged from various hospitals, the recoveries outnumbered the new infections and in total 2,89,787 people have got cured. Those dead include 108 with co-morbidities and 13 had no chronic diseases.

Andhra Pradesh on Tuesday became the third state after Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu in the country to cross the three lakh mark in the overall number of coronavirus cases. The state now has 3,06,261 cases after 9,652 were added in the last 24 hours. The number of active cases is 85,130 with 2,18,311 patients having recovered so far.

Uttar Pradesh reported its worst single-day spike of 77 fatalities on Tuesday, pushing the COVID-19 death toll in the state to 2,585, a senior official said. Additional Chief Secretary (Health) Amit Mohan Prasad said the number of those who have been discharged from hospitals after recovery has reached 1,09,607.

For the second consecutive day, Kerala recorded over 1,700 COVID-19 cases as the infection count touched 47,898 and six more fatalities were confirmed due to the virus, taking the death toll to 175. As the positive cases continued to see a surge in the southern state, 1,758 new cases were recorded on Tuesday.

The novel coronavirus cases in Jammu and Kashmir rose to 29,326 on Tuesday with 434 new infections, while 13 more deaths took the toll to 561, officials said. There are 6,879 active cases of COVID-19, while 21,886 patients have recovered so far, the officials said. All the 13 more deaths were from Kashmir, taking the toll to 561.

Health authorities in Indore started conducting rapid antigen tests from Tuesday for faster detection of COVID-19 cases in Madhya Pradesh’s worst-hit district, an official said. The district has received 12,500 kits from the state government for the tests in the first phase, Amit Malakar, district nodal officer for COVID-19 prevention, told reporters.

Migrant workers recovering from coronavirus have been inducted by the West Bengal government as members of “COVID-19 warriors club” to provide a healing touch to people undergoing treatment for infection in different hospitals in the metropolis As many as 49  workers have been enrolled in the club to assist patients.