India has been hitting upwards of 90,000 fresh cases of Covid-19 every day for some time now, as the virus continues to spread amid further Unlock. The recoveries, on the other hand, are also creating new records.

The country recorded 96,424 new cases of infection – the highest single-day figure in the world so far – in the 24 hours to 8 am Friday, according to a health ministry bulletin. This takes the number of total confirmed cases to 52,14,677.

With 1,174 deaths in the 24 hours, the total fatalities so far have been 84,372. India has a lower fatality rate compared to highly affected countries.

In the same period, 87,472 patients recovered, and thus the total recoveries have reached the figure of 41,12,551 so far.

Maharashtra remains the most affected state, and it registered 24,619 new cases in the 24-hour period, taking its total confirmed cases to 11,45,840 so far. With 468 deaths in this period, it has suffered a total of 31,351 fatalities so far. Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Tamil Nadu complete the list of the five most affected states.

The capital Delhi has been facing yet another round of spike in cases, as it recorded 4,432 new cases and 38 deaths. Its total figures so far have been 2,34,701 and 4,877 respectively.

Recoveries four times higher than number of active cases

On the positive side, India has been consistently reporting a very high level of daily recoveries of more than 70,000 for the past 11 days.  The Recovery Rate has further escalated to 78.86% as on Friday. The total recovered cases thus stand at 41,12,551.

Recovered Cases are 4.04 times the number of Active Cases as recoveries outnumber the latter by 30,94,797, the health ministry said in an official release.

Some 90% of the new recoveries are reported from 16 states and UTs. The top five states with high active caseload are also the ones which are presently reporting a high level of recoveries. As many as 59.8% of the active cases are being reported from Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Uttar Pradesh. These states are also contributing to 59.3% of the total recoveries.

Maharashtra (19,522) contributed 22.31% of the new recoveries while Andhra Pradesh (12.24%), Karnataka (8.3%), Tamil Nadu (6.31%) and Chhattisgarh (6.0%) followed with 32.8% of the new recoveries. These states together contribute 55.1% of total new recoveries.

The continuous streak of very high level of recoveries is a testimony of the effective clinical management and treatment protocols issued by the union government which have been updated from time to time with the emergence of new evidence. The health ministry in active collaboration with AIIMS has been conducting the 'National e-ICU on COVID-19 Management' exercise which handholds ICU doctors of state/UT hospitals through the Centres of Excellence. Held twice a week, on Tuesday and Friday, these sessions have played a major role in India's substantial rate of recovering and declining case fertility rate. So far, 19 such National e-ICUs have been held covering 249 hospitals of 28 States/UTs across the country.

India has also allowed for rational use of ‘Investigational Therapies’ like Remdesevir, convalescent plasma and Tocilizumab and adopted measures such proning, use of high flow oxygen, non-invasive ventilation, use of steroids and anti-coagulants to aid recovery in COVID patients. Supervised home isolation, improved services of the ambulances for ferrying patients for prompt and timely treatment have enabled seamless and efficient patient management.

In order to support and assist efforts of state/UT governments, the centre has deputed central multi-specialist teams. Regular review has ensured adequate availability of medical oxygen in the health facilities. These have together have played a critical intervention role in India’s high recoveries and maintained low Case Fatality Rate (CFR), which currently stands at 1.62%.