India records 0.2 death per lakh population due to COVID-19

New Delhi: Across the world 4.2 people per lakh population have succumbed to the COVID-19, while India has recorded 0.2 deaths per lakh population, said Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare (MoHFW) on Wednesday.

With 5,611 new cases reported in the last 24 hours, India’s count of coronavirus cases on Wednesday soared to 1,06,750 including 42,298 recoveries and 3,303 deaths, said the MoHFW. There are 61,149 active cases.

As many as 140 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the total number of deaths to 3,303.

As per the official data, Maharashtra continues to account for the largest number of COVID-19 cases with a total count at 37,136. A total of 9,639 patients have been cured/discharged and 1,325 have died in the State.

4.2 people per lakh population across the world have died due to #COVID19. In India it is 0.2 deaths per lakh population: Lav Agarwal, Union Health ministry joint secretary https://t.co/SOarbZrQ3h

— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2020

Maharashtra is followed by Tamil Nadu (12,448 cases), Gujarat (12,140 cases), and Delhi (10,554 cases).

The MoHFW has said that 7.9 people per lakh population of India has got affected due to COVID-19 and the recovery rate is 39.62 per cent.

“If the total population of the world is taken into account, then 62 people per lakh population have been affected due to COVID-19. In India, 7.9 people per lakh population have got affected due to COVID,” said Lav Agarwal, Joint Secretary, MoHFW, at a press conference here today.

When the first lockdown started, then recovery rate was around 7.1%, the recovery rate during 2nd lockdown was 11.42%, it then rose to 26.59%. Today the recovery rate is 39.62%: Lav Agarwal, Union Health ministry joint secretary #COVID19 pic.twitter.com/p3ebJM6VIp

— ANI (@ANI) May 20, 2020

Agarwal said that at present about 40 per cent of people have recovered from COVID-19. Out of active cases, 2.94 per cent are on the oxygen support, 3 per cent at ICU related support, and 0.45 per cent on ventilators, he added.

He said that 4.2 people per lakh population across the world have died due to the disease, India has recorded 0.2 deaths per lakh population.

Talking about COVID-19 recovery rate in the country, he said: “When the first lockdown started, then the recovery rate was around 7.1 per cent. The recovery rate during the second lockdown was 11.42 per cent, which further rose to 26.59 per cent. Today the recovery rate is 39.62 per cent.”

The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) said the country has conducted over 25 lakh COVID-19 tests till 12.30 pm on Wednesday.

“Till 12.30 pm today, 25,36,156 COVID-19 tests were conducted in the country. Yesterday, 1,07,609 tests were conducted and the daily figure of testing since the past two days is going above one lakh,” said R Gangakhedkar, head scientist, ICMR, during the press briefing today.

India has a total of 555 labs for COVID-19 testing which are currently active, of which, 391 labs come under ICMR-network and 164 are in the private sector.

Meanwhile, the Civil Aviation Ministry has announced that domestic civil aviation operations will recommence in a calibrated manner from May 25 amid the lockdown. SOPs for passenger movement are being separately issued by the Ministry.

Earlier in the day, Prime Minister Narendra Modi interacted with the “1 croreth beneficiary” of the Ayushman Bharat Yojana, the country’s flagship public health insurance scheme, and thanked all individuals and organisations associated with the “largest healthcare programme in the world.”

The Union Cabinet meeting gave its ex-post facto approval for the allocation of foodgrains from the central pool to approximately 8 crore migrants or stranded migrants at 5 kg per person per month for May and June free-of-cost.

The allocation will ease the hardships faced by migrants and stranded migrants due to economic disruption caused by COVID-19. An official release said the decision would entail an estimated food subsidy of about Rs 2,982.27 crore.

Here are the top COVID-19 related updates of the day:

1) The ICMR has released revised guidelines for TrueNat, a comprehensive assay for screening and testing for positive cases for COVID-19. As per the guidelines, all samples of COVID-19 suspect should be first tested by this assay, and later be subjected to confirmation by Step 2, called RdRp gene confirmation assay. If the sample tests positive through this, it must be considered as true positive.

2) An Air India repatriation flight carrying 145 passengers arrived at Andhra Pradesh’s Vijayawada airport from London on Wednesday morning. The state’s coronavirus count has reached 2,407 with 68 new cases.

3) An interim report prepared by the Telangana government has yielded promising results on the efficacy of prophylactic use of Hydroxychloroquine or HCQ, as it is popularly known, on preventing COVID-19 among the frontline medical workers in the State.

4) Union Minister Piyush Goyal has said that going beyond the promised 200 Shramik Special trains per day, the Railways ran 204 such trains on May 19 to enable migrants, stranded due to the COVID-19 lockdown, to return to their native States.

5) Four more Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel have recovered from the coronavirus, while one other contracted the illness, taking the number of active cases in the force to 96.

6) 63 more COVID-19 cases have been reported from Karnataka, taking the total number of coronavirus cases in the State to 1,458 on Wednesday, said the state’s Health Department.

7) Out of the 1,388 cases of coronavirus among Maharashtra Police personnel, 948 are still active, the Maharashtra Police said.

8) Finance Minister Nirmala Sitharaman has said the Central government’s measures in the special economic package to deal with the impact of coronavirus crisis were aimed at “greater multiplier effect” and it should be through banks for meeting the fixed cost expenditure and for working capital.

9) Ladakh Commissioner, Health and Medical Education, has declared that there are no active COVID-19 cases in the Union Territory as of May 18. The last two positive cases reported for COVID-19 have recovered and were discharged on May 19.

10) The COVID-19 count of the national capital has reached 10,554, including 4,750 recoveries and 168 deaths. (ANI)