Over 40,000 new cases; Maharashtra minister tests positive

With more than 40,000 fresh cases reported in the last 24 hours, India now has 1.11 million infections. As many as 681 casualties were reported in the country, taking the toll to 27,497. There are over 7 lakh recoveries, while nearly 4 lakh are still active cases. This is the first time that India has reported more than 40,000 infections. Maharashtra has reported the highest number of cases, followed by Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat.

The Health Ministry yesterday said that the case fatality rate (CFR) has for the first time dropped below 2.5 per cent. At 2.49 per cent, India’s CFR is 1.78 percentage points lower than the global average. According to data released by the Union Health Ministry on Sunday, 29 states and Union Territories have a CFR that is below the national average, with 14 states reporting a CFR of less than 1%.

While attributing this drop in CFR to “reporting of cases to the hospital within 24-72 hours” of the patient showing symptoms, sources in the government monitoring the pandemic in the country said the data raise a key red-flag: that some of the deaths in states such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, which have a CFR higher than the national average, were possibly “avoidable”.

Globally, the pandemic has infected nearly 14.5 million people, with 6-lakh casualties. The United States continues to be the worst-affected followed by Brazil, India, Russia and South Africa.

Indian express