India’s COVID-19 recovery rate nears 75%, case fatality rate one of the lowest globally at 1.86%

Recoveries among COVID-19 patients in the country surged to 22,80,566 on Sunday, pushing India’s recovery rate to nearly 75 per cent, while the case fatality rate reduced to 1.86 per cent — one of the lowest globally, the Union health ministry said. The constantly rising number of recoveries has ensured that the active cases of coronavirus infection, which is the “actual caseload” of the country, currently comprises only 23.24 per cent of the total cases, it said.

“This has also resulted in a gradually falling mortality rate. Currently at 1.86 per cent, India’s case fatality rate (CFR) is one of the lowest globally,” the ministry said. With 57,989 patients recuperating from COVID-19 in a day, recoveries have surged to 22,80,566 and exceed the total number of active cases of coronavirus infection by nearly 16 lakh (1,572,898). The national recovery rate has increased to 74.90 per cent.

The ministry said the average daily number of recoveries is on a “constant upward move” from 15,018 between July 1 and 7 to 60,557 between August 13 and 19. The increasing recovery rate and declining case fatality rate have been made possible because of “comprehensive and sustained effectiveness of the Centre’s policy of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently”.

“Higher number of recoveries and declining mortality rate among COVID patients have shown that India’s graded and pro-active strategies are delivering results on the field,” the ministry underlined. A single-day spike of 69,239 infections took India’s COVID-19 caseload to 30,44,940, while 912 fatalities in a span of 24 hours pushed the death toll to 56,706, official data updated at 8 am showed.