India reported a record 49,310 new coronavirus cases on Friday, taking its overall count to 12,87,945. The country’s toll rose to 30,601 with 740 new deaths. The Union health ministry said the country’s recovery rate is 63.45 percent while the fatality rate is 2.38 percent.
The highest number of samples were tested on Wednesday, with 3,50,823 samples collected. The total samples tested till now is over 1.5 crore, government data shows.
The sustained rise in number of recoveries is the result of a well formulated and executed strategy of containment of COVID-19 by the State/UT governments under the guidance of Union Government. It primarily focuses on early detection through aggressive testing along with house-to-house surveys, contact tracing and surveillance of SARI/ILI cases to actively search for cases in the highly vulnerable categories. This is followed by effective containment plans and efficient clinical management through the ramped up three-tier health infrastructure and well executed Standard of Care Protocol. These have successfully aided in effective treatment in the hospitals and through home isolation which in turn has ensured that the hospitals remain unburdened for critical patients.
The five states that reported the highest number of COVID-19 cases in the last 24 hours are: Maharashtra (10,576), Andhra Pradesh (6,045), Tamil Nadu (5,849), Karnataka (4,764) and Uttar Pradesh (2,300). The five states that reported the highest deaths in the last 24 hours are: Tamil Nadu (518), Maharashtra (280), Andhra Pradesh (65), Karnataka (55) and West Bengal (39).
Several states have declared full lockdown in their cities as coronavirus cases continue to rise. India has the highest number of coronavirus cases after the US and Brazil.