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India records highest one-day spike of Covid-19 cases at 69,878; tally nears 3 million

The health ministry also said India has crossed the milestone of conducting 1 million tests every day to detect Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease.

Updated on: Aug 22, 2020, 10:14:03 IST
Hindustan Times, New Delhi | By
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India’s tally of confirmed cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) neared the 3 million-mark as it remained the third worst-hit country in the world after the US and Brazil, the Union health ministry’s data showed on Saturday.

Health workers in PPE kits prepare to collect swab samples during a special testing camp for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in  this file photo. India’s recovery rate climbed to 74.69% as record 63,631 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours. (Ravi Kumar/HT Photo)
Health workers in PPE kits prepare to collect swab samples during a special testing camp for the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) in this file photo. India’s recovery rate climbed to 74.69% as record 63,631 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours. (Ravi Kumar/HT Photo)

There were 69,878 cases of Covid-19, the highest single-day spike, and 945 fatalities reported across the country in the last 24 hours, taking India’s tally to 2,975,701, according to the health ministry’s dashboard at 8am.

The number of active cases were at 697,330 and 55,794 people have succumbed to the viral disease, data showed. The recovery rate climbed to 74.69% as record 63,631 Covid-19 patients were discharged from hospitals in the last 24 hours. There are 2,222,577 people who have been cured of the coronavirus disease till date.

The gap between recovered patients and active Covid-19 cases has increased further and reached 1,525,247 on Saturday.

The health ministry also said India has crossed the milestone of conducting 1 million tests every day to detect Sars-Cov-2, the virus that causes the coronavirus disease, which experts say is important to know the exact disease burden.

“Early identification through TESTING, prompt & effective TREATMENT through supervised home isolation and quality medical care, & innovative graded policy measures have resulted in almost 100% increase in recovered cases in the last 21 days,” the ministry tweeted.

India’s case fatality rate (CFR) “is maintained below the global average”, the health ministry said on Friday. “It is on a continuous positive slide and currently stands at 1.89%,” it had said.

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