India reports under 300 new Covid-19 deaths for nearly 2 weeks

The country on Wednesday reported 223 new deaths, and with that the total number of deaths has reached 150,390

India has been reporting less than 300 deaths due to coronavirus disease (Covid-19) for the past 13 consecutive days, even as the total of number of people having succumbed to the viral infection in the country has crossed 150,000.

Representational image. (Raj K Raj/HT PHOTO)

The country on Wednesday reported 223 new deaths, and with that the total number of deaths has reached 150,390.

The first death due to Covid-19 in the country was reported on March 12, 2020.

“There is a steady decline in the number of daily deaths recorded in the country... The effective strategy of containment including prompt tracing and tracking, aggressive and widespread testing, combined with standardised clinical management protocols have ensured the low mortality levels. The effective implementation by the State/UT governments has resulted in early identification, prompt isolation and timely clinical management of the hospitalized cases,” the Union health ministry said in a statement.

According to the health ministry data, only one new death per million population has been reported in India in the past seven days, and the ministry attributes this to the central government’s effective Covid-19 management and response policy.

Fewer people are dying of Covid-19 in India than in other countries, including several developed nations. The United Kingdom has seen 64 deaths per million population, Italy and US have 55, France has 35, Russia 25, and Brazil has reported 23 deaths per million population during the past seven days, as per global data.

“Covid-19-related mortality in India has been one of the lowest in the world, and the number has further reduced if we compare with the number of deaths that were taking place in the country during the beginning of the outbreak,” said Dr GC Khilnani, former head, pulmonology and sleep medicine department, All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS), Delhi.

“The number of deaths has reduced further because of standardisation of Covid-19 treatment across India. We now know a lot better about the disease and therapies that are more effective than what we knew in the beginning, and that has made a lot of difference in saving lives,” he added.