The Joint Secretary said that India's fatality rate due to COVID-19 was much less than other countries with a high number of cases.
India witnessed the biggest ever spike of 6,767 positive cases in the last 24 hours today morning, taking the total number of COVID-19 cases to 1,31,868, according to the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.
As many as 137 deaths have been reported in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 3,720. Out of the total number of cases, 69,597 are active and 51,784 have been cured/discharged or have migrated.
WHO Director-General Tedros Ghebreyesus welcomed him for the new role: "I would like to congratulate and welcome Dr Harsh Vardhan on his election as the new chair.
Maharashtra remains the worst-affected state due to the virus with 33,053 cases, including 1,198 deaths. It is followed by Gujarat (11,379), Tamil Nadu (11,224) and Delhi (10,054).
The number of active cases in the country now stands at 53,035, while the number of patients who have been cured and discharged stands at 30,152, one patient has also migrated.
The number of active cases in the country rose to 44,029, while 20,916 patients have been cured and discharged and one has migrated, according to the Ministry.
In 216 districts in the country no positive cases of COVID-19 have been detected. In 42 districts no new cases have been detected in the last 28 days.
Maharashtra with 15,525 cases is the worst-affected state, while Gujarat with 6,245 cases is second on the list.
The Health Ministry also said that the outcome ratio, indicating the status of closed COVID-19 patients whether they have died or recovered, has improved to 90:20, which was 80:20 on April 17
