COVID-19: India's Case Fatality Rate drops to 2.15%, lowest since lockdown started

India's COVID19 Case Fatality Rate (CFR) stands at 2.15% and is the lowest since the first lockdown started, said the Union Health Ministry on Saturday, adding it has been continuously going down from around 3.33% in mid-June.

"The total number of recovered cases is nearly 11 lakh. With 36,569 patients discharged in the last 24 hours, the total recoveries have jumped to 10,94,374. The recovery rate stands at 64.53 per cent among COVID-19 patients," said a health ministry press statement.

With such a consistent increase in recoveries, the gap between recovered patients and active COVID-19 cases currently stands at 5,29,271.

Active cases (5,65,103) are under medical supervision, it said.

As on 1 August, there are 1,488 dedicated COVID hospitals with 2,49,358 isolation beds, 31,639 ICU beds and 1,09,119 oxygen-supported beds, 16,678 ventilators.

As many as 3,231 dedicated COVID Health Centres with 2,07,239 isolation beds, 18,613 ICU beds and 74,130 oxygen-supported beds and 6,668 ventilators have also been operationalised.

Moreover, 10,755 COVID Care Centres with 10,02,681 beds are now available to combat COVID-19 in the country.

The Centre has also provided 273.85 lakh N95 masks and 121.5 lakh pieces of Personal Protective Equipment (PPEs) and 1083.77 lakh HCQ tablets to the States/ UTs / central institutions.

In the first lockdown, India was under a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country from March 25 to April 14. Currently, the country is in Unlock-3 as part of phased re-opening.

According to the World Health Organisation, CFR is a measure of the severity of a disease and is defined as the proportion of reported cases of a specified disease or condition which are fatal within a specified time.

Meanwhile, India has yet again witnessed the highest single-day spike of 57,117 COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours, and its tally has neared the 17 lakh mark, informed the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

With this latest spike, the total cases in the country stand at 16,95,988. Among these cases 5,65,103 are active. A total of 10,94,374 patients have been cured/discharged/migrated.

A total of 764 deaths due to COVID-19 have been reported in the country in the last 24 hours, taking the death toll to 36,511.

(With agency inputs)