50% of COVID-19 deaths in age group of above 60 years, 68% men

The Centre on Tuesday said the fatality rate among COVID-19 is declining further while the recovery rate is going upward. 

During a media briefing on COVID-19, the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare said this is the first time after the first lockdown (March 25) that the fatality rate is at the lowest at 2.10%.

The fatality rate has seen a progressive decline and it is continuing, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Health Ministry, said. 

The mortality analysis of the present data shows that 50% of deaths have happened in the age group of 60 years and above; 37% deaths belong to 45 to 60 years age group; while 11% deaths belong to 26-44 years age group. In the gender-wise distribution, 68% of people who died were men and 32% were women.

Recovered cases are now double of active cases while the case fatality rate is also the lowest since the first lockdown, Bhushan said. 

According to the ministry, there are 12,30,509 total recoveries while the active cases remain at 5,86,298 which account for 31.59% of total positive cases in the country. 

On COVID-19 testing, the official said that many states have increased their testing capacity, both RT - PCR and Rapid Antigen tests. 

24 states and UT's have more tests per million than the national average, he added.

"Over 2 crore tests have been conducted so far. More than 6.6 lakh tests conducted in 24 hours," he further said.

On import of ventilators, Bhushan said, "In 2019, Indian ventilator market was roughly estimated as 8,510 units valued at Rs 444.74 Crore. Because of COVID19, in March domestic manufacturers imported various components. It wouldn't have been possible to make ventilators without import then."

"Share of 'Make in India' ventilators, in 60,000 ventilators which we'll get, is 96% by volume and over 90% by value. Bharat Electronics Limited (BEL) and Andhra Med-Tech Zone (AMTZ) played a major role. BEL giving 30,000 and AMTZ giving 13,500 ventilators," he added.