Covid-19: Aim is to achieve fatality rate of 1% and sustain it, says health ministry

14 states/UTs have a fatality rate of less than 1%, the health ministry said. India’s current death toll due to the novel coronavirus disease stands at 119,014 or 1.50% of the country’s total cases, according to the ministry’s dashboard.

With India reporting its lowest single-day deaths due to the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) disease since July, the Ministry of health and family welfare (MoHFW) on Tuesday said the aim is to achieve a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of less than 1% and then sustain it.

A health worker arranges swab sample test tubes collected for coronavirus testing, at CGHS Wellness Centre, in Kamla Nehru Nagar, in Ghaziabad (Photo by Sakib Ali /Hindustan Times)

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The ministry also listed out 14 states and Union territories (UTs) which are reporting a CFR of less than 1% even today. According to the health ministry’s website, deaths due to Covid-19 in India constitute 1.50% of the total number of cases.

With 480 fatalities between Sunday and Monday, India had logged its lowest single-day death toll since 475 on July 10. Overall, there have been 119,014 deaths thus far in the country due to Covid-19, the third-highest globally behind the United States and Brazil.

“On a steady decline, India’s Fatality Rate has touched 1.5%. The aim is to achieve a Case Fatality Rate (CFR) of less than 1% and sustain it. 14 states and UTs are demonstrating CFR less than 1% even today,” the ministry said on its official Twitter handle.

“This has been possible through ramped up medical infrastructure, effective clinical management based on a Standard Treatment Protocol, skill enhancement of ICU doctors and use of non-invasive oxygen,” the ministry further tweeted.

India’s current Covid-19 caseload stands at 7,909,959, the second-highest after the United States and ahead of Brazil in third. Also, for the first time since July, the country has logged less than 50,000 single-day cases, twice in nearly a week: 45,149 on Monday and 46,790 on October 20; with the former being the lowest single-day numbers since 45,720 on July 23.