Expressing satisfaction towards the government's efforts to contain coronavirus in the country, Union Health Minister Harsh Vardhan said the country has made tremendous strides in containing the COVID-19 outbreak.
For every million population, India¡¯s coronavirus cases and fatalities are one of the lowest compared to the global averages.
As of August 29, eight states ¡ª Maharashtra, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Odisha and Telangana ¡ª contribute around 73 per cent of the active caseload.
Seven states ¡ª Maharashtra, Delhi, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal ¡ª account for 81 per cent of total deaths due to coronavirus infection.
At the meeting, Vardhan said the country has made tremendous strides in containing the COVID-19 outbreak and instructed his ministry to develop standard operating procedures (SoPs), comprising COVID protocols and preventive measures, for Parliament and Assembly sessions.
¡°The global comparison depicted that India has one of the lowest cases per million (2,424) and deaths per million (44) compared to the global average of 3,161 and 107.2 respectively,¡± the ministry said.
It underlined that despite being resource-constrained and densely populated, timely lockdown and rapid augmentation of infrastructure have enabled India to keep cases per million and deaths per cent million considerably low compared to other countries.
According to an official statement, Vardhan expressed satisfaction at the coordinated efforts of the Centre, states and Union Territories.
Also, only 0.29 per cent of cases are on ventilators, 1.93 per cent on ICU and only 2.88 per cent of cases are on oxygen support, the health minister said.
¡°A total of 1,576 labs at present have led to an upsurge in testing and the goal of 10 lakh tests per day has been fulfilled. More than nine lakh samples were tested in the last 24 hours and this has led to the cumulative number of tests crossing the four-crore mark,¡± he added.