In the battle against Covid-19, India has managed to keep the mortality rate low at 0.2 deaths per lakh population, compared to some 4.1 deaths for the same population worldwide. Moreover, a total of 39,174 patients have been cured, registering a recovery rate of 38.73% which is improving continuously.

During last 24 hours, a total of 2,350 COVID-19 patients have been cured, an official note said late Tuesday. India currently has 58,802 active cases. These are all under active medical supervision. Of the active cases, only approx. 2.9% of the cases are in ICU.

The status of deaths per lakh population for countries having the highest number of deaths, according to the WHO situation report-119, is as follows: The worldwide total deaths: 3,11,847 (4,1 deaths per lakh population), the US: 87,180 (26.6), the UK: 34,636 (52.1), Italy: 31,908 (52.8), France: 28,059     (41.9), Spain:    27,650    (59.2), Brazil:    15,633    (7.5), Belgium: 9,052    (79.3). These are the latest figures available by Tuesday.

The relatively low death figures represent timely case identification and clinical management of the cases, the official release said.

Also, “a record number” of 1,08,233 samples were tested on Tuesday in the country, taking the total so far to 24,25,742. From one laboratory conducting COVID-19 test in January, India has very rapidly increased its testing capacity by adding over 385 government laboratories and 158 private laboratories for testing. Duly forging partnerships with all central government labs, state medical colleges, private medical colleges and private sector, the testing capacity in the country has been expanded. Other testing machines like TrueNAT and CBNAAT have also been mobilized to ramp up testing.

Through 14 AIIMS-like mentor institutions, handholding of labs across the country is undertaken to ensure adequate bio-safety standards and accreditation of the laboratories.  To maintain steady supply of testing material to the labs, 15 depots have been created by roping in India Posts and private agencies for distribution. Many Indian companies have been supported to undertake production of testing material which was earlier primarily sourced from abroad. This has helped in maintaining steady supplies across the country.