Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Highest ever single day recoveries of 66,550 in last 24
hours
India scales another peak: Total recoveries cross 24 lakh
More than 100% increase in Recovered Cases in last 25 days
Posted On: 25 AUG 2020 12:29PM by PIB Delhi
Collaborative and strategic
measures led by the Union Government and implemented by the States/UTs are
showing results.
India has registered the highest
recoveries in a single day. 66,550 COVID-19 patients have
recovered and been discharged in the last 24 hours. In a testimony of the
government’s policy of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively &
TREATING efficiently, the total number of recoveries has crossed 24 lakh (24,04,585).
With this, India's Recovery Rate
amongst the COVID-19 patients has reached 76% (75.92%). The number of recovered
patients has outpaced the active cases (7,04,348) by more than 17
lakh. The recovered patients are 3.41
times the active cases, as on date.
There has been more than 100%
hike in the recoveries in the last 25 days.
The record high recoveries have
ensured that the actual caseload of the country viz. the active cases, has
reduced and currently comprises only 22.24% of the total positive
cases.
As a result of the combined
efforts of the Union Government and the States/UTs, there have been focused and
effective measures of testing, containment through surveillance and contact
tracing, isolation in home setting and institutions, coupled with efficient
treatment in upgraded medical infrastructure through three categories of COVID
facilities. These comprise the Dedicated COVID Care Centres, Dedicated COVID
Health Centres and Dedicated COVID Hospitals. These sustained measures have
collectively borne results. The steadily falling Case Fatality Rates stands at 1.84% today.
For all authentic & updated
information on COVID-19 related technical issues, guidelines & advisories
please regularly visit: https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ and @MoHFW_INDIA.
Technical queries related to
COVID-19 may be sent to technicalquery.covid19@gov.in and other queries on
ncov2019@gov.in and @CovidIndiaSeva .
In case of any queries on
COVID-19, please call at the Ministry of Health & Family Welfare helpline
no.: +91-11-23978046 or 1075 (Toll-free). List of helpline numbers of
States/UTs on COVID-19 is also available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/coronvavirushelplinenumber.pdf
****
MV/SJ
HFW/COVID Recoveries/25Aug2020/1
(Release ID: 1648421) Visitor Counter : 249
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Growth of active COVID-19 cases is slowing down: Health
Secretary
ICMR Sero surveys expected to be published this week in ‘Indian Journal of
Medical Research’ after being subjected to two rounds of peer reviews: DG, ICMR
Posted On: 25 AUG 2020 7:10PM by PIB Mumbai
: Mumbai, August 25, 2020
The number of tests conducted so
far has crossed 3.68 crore. At the same time, recovery rate has become more
than 75.92%, while active cases are only 22.2% of total cases. In the last 24
hours, number of active cases came down by 6,400. Recovered patients are now
more than 24 lakh, while the number active patients stand at 7,04,348, as on
date. This apart, death percentage is at 1.84%, which is one of the lowest in
the world. This has been informed by Shri Rajesh Bhushan, Health Secretary,
while briefing media persons on the actions taken, preparedness and updates on
COVID-19, at National Media Centre in New Delhi today. The Health Secretary
also informed, “The rate of increase of active cases, on a day-on-day as well
as week-on-week basis, shows a declining graph"
Explaining in detail, Shri
Bhushan stated, enhanced testing infrastructure is leading to rise in tests.
"We, at the level of Health Ministry monitor the positivity rate on a
day-to-day as well as on a 7-day rolling average basis. This apart, cumulative
positivity rate on basis of the tests conducted so far is also monitored”, he
informed. As on August 13, the positivity rate was 8.93% when cumulative
testing was around 2.68 crore. But, as on date, when the cumulative testing
figure has increased to 3.6 crore, the positivity rate has decreased to 8.6%.
Similarly, the positivity rate recorded on the basis of seven-day rolling
average was 11% in the first week of August. It has now come down as on date to
8% (7-day rolling average). “While the number of tests has increased exponentially,
there has been a steady decline in the positivity rate", stated the Health
Secretary.
This apart, tests per million
per day is also continuously rising. "We have to keep in mind the
population of the country which is the second highest in the world. This
becomes a factor while increasing tests per million population. It is easy to
increase tests per million in countries having a smaller population. But, in
countries like India a lot of challenges arise in this work", stated Shri
Bhushan.
A study of the critical cases
show 2.70% patients are on oxygen support, 1.92% are in ICU, while 0.29% patients
are on ventilator support, out of the total active cases. This apart, analysis
of deaths show, 51% of deaths occurred in 60 years and above age group, 36%
deaths in the 45-60 years age group, 11% between 26-44 years, 1% in 18-25 years
age group and 1% COVID-19 related deaths occurred to those aged below 17. These
data, as presented by the Health Secretary, again points out that people with
comorbidities and elderly are at high risk. An analysis on the basis of gender
shows 31% of the deaths occurred to female patients, while 69% to males.
Stating as to how testing has
been increased in a calibrated manner, DG, ICMR Prof (Dr.) Balram
Bhargava informed, “In the first phase, COVID-19 was an urban phenomena which
occurred in large cities with international airports and hence labs for RT-PCR
tests, which is still a gold standard, were set up. In the second phase, at the
district level, some RT-PCR labs were set up along with repurposing of the
TRUENAT and CBNAAT tests originally meant for tuberculosis and the Abbott
machines originally meant for HIV-AIDs. In the third phase, at the field level,
antigen tests having moderate to high sensitivity and very high specificity
were deployed for the purpose of COVID-19 testing”.
This week a landmark of 10 lakh
tests per day has been reached. Presently there are 1524 testing labs in the
country, including state-of-the-art high throughput testing machines have also
been installed at 5 cities, namely, Delhi, Mumbai, Noida, Kolkata and Patna,
for which a number of ICMR labs were re-purposed. Speaking on the augmentation
of COVID-19 testing capacity, DG, ICMR stated, the purpose of calibrated
testing strategy was to gradually increase the number of tests as and when
required, take it to areas where it was mostly required (including faraway
areas) as well as to bring down the cost. In the month of March, a RT-PCR Kit
costed around Rs 1150, VTM and RNA Extraction kits costed around Rs 320 each.
As and when the indigenous kits became available, the international kits also reduced
their costs. Presently, an RT-PCR kit is available for Rs 138/-, while VTM and
RNA Extraction kits come at Rs 90 each. This way, the cost of a RT-PCR test
came down from around Rs 2000 to Rs 310. Gradually, as and when Indian
industries, start-ups, central laboratories started developing indigenous kits,
the international kits also reduced their costs. In this connection, the DG,
ICMR further informed, most of the VTM, RT-PCR and RNA Extraction kits were
imported in the beginning of April. More than 700 such kits have been
evaluated. At the 24 ICMR Evaluation Centres, out of all the testing kits
tested so far, 119 VTM, 46 RT-PCR, 62 RNA Extraction, 10 ELISA, 11 Rapid
Antibody and 1 Rapid Antigen Kits of indigenous-make. More recently, many
of the states have started procuring these kits, further informed the DG of
ICMR. All these kits are now available in GeM platform, he added.
DG-ICMR further informed, more
RT-PCR testing labs are being set-up.
In reply to a query, DG-ICMR
replied, ICMR sero-surveys can expected to be published this week in ‘Indian
Journal of Medical Research’ after being subjected to two rounds of
peer-reviews. He further informed, ICMR has embarked on the second round of
national sero-survey which may be completed by the first week of September.
Most of the sero-surveys are being conducted by the states and the reports are
shared with the ICMR. He also stated that Neutralizing Antibodies, T-Cell
responses etc. are not being studied in these large sero-surveys. He also said,
sero-surveys guide us about what phase of the epidemic is prevailing at a
particular area and thereby helping policy makers to decide on what should be
the public health response.
In answer to a query on
vaccines, DG, ICMR, said, 1700 patients are to be studied in Phase 2B/Phase 3
clinical trials of the vaccine being conducted by Serum Institute. As of now,
three vaccines are in progress and three more are in pre-clinical stage, he
said.
On a media query about Tele-ICU
interventions started by AIIMS, New Delhi to treating doctors around the
country, Shri Bhushan said, 14 such sessions have been held covering 148
COVID-19 Hospitals so far.
*****
DJM/SC
(Release ID: 1648568) Visitor Counter : 14
Ministry of Health and Family Welfare
Following “TEST, TRACK, TREAT” strategy, India tests
nearly 3.7 crore
Rising Tests Per Million (TPM) touch 26,685
Posted On: 25 AUG 2020 1:22PM by PIB Delhi
Keeping the focus on “Test, Track and Treat” strategy, India has tested nearly 3.7 crore cumulative
COVID-19 samples so far. With India’s strong resolve to rapidly increase the
number of daily tests, the cumulative testing as on date has reached
3,68,27,520.
With 9,25,383 tests conducted in
the last 24 hours, the Tests Per Million have seen a sharp rise to 26,685.
As the first step towards timely
identification, prompt isolation & effective treatment, higher testing also
results in limiting the spread of infection.
Starting from a single lab at
Pune, India’s testing lab network has seen a substantial widening with total of
1524 labs today. The 986 labs in the government sector and 538 private labs
include:
• Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 787 (Govt: 459 + Private: 328)
• TrueNat based testing labs: 619 (Govt: 493 + Private: 126)
• CBNAAT based testing labs: 118 (Govt: 34 + Private: 84)
For all authentic & updated information on COVID-19
related technical issues, guidelines & advisories please regularly visit:
https://www.mohfw.gov.in/ and @MoHFW_INDIA.
Technical queries related to COVID-19 may be sent to
technicalquery.covid19@gov.in and other queries on ncov2019@gov.in and
@CovidIndiaSeva .
In case of any queries on COVID-19, please call at the
Ministry of Health & Family Welfare helpline no.: +91-11-23978046 or 1075
(Toll-free). List of helpline numbers of States/UTs on COVID-19 is also
available at https://www.mohfw.gov.in/pdf/coronvavirushelplinenumber.pdf .
****
MV/SJ
HFW/COVID Testing/25Aug2020/2
(Release ID: 1648431) Visitor Counter : 106
No comments:
Post a Comment