The total number of COVID-19 cases in India surpassed the 900,000-mark on Tuesday, reaching 906,752, with the total deaths standing at 23,727, said the latest data issued by the federal health ministry.
The ministry said 553 new deaths due to COVID-19, besides fresh 28,498 positive cases, were reported during the past 24 hours across the country, taking the number of deaths to 23,727 and total cases to 906,752.
"As on 8:00 a.m. (local time) Tuesday, 23,727 deaths related to novel coronavirus have been recorded in the country," read the information released by the ministry.
On Monday morning the number of COVID-19 cases in the country was 878,254, and the death toll was 23,174.
Addressing media persons in Delhi on Tuesday, Officer on Special Duty at the federal health ministry Rajesh Bhushan said that the rate of recovery of COVID-19 cases was rising in India. According to him, at present the rate of recovery in the country was 1.8 times of the number of active cases.
He also said that 86 percent of COVID-19 cases came from only 10 states. At present there are over 1,400 testing labs and facilities across the country, out of which 853 are government-run, he added.
For controlling the virus spread in the future, Bhushan said that house-to-house search should be initiated which, according to him, would help in early detection of COVID-19 cases.
Meanwhile, Delhi, which is one of the COVID-19 hotspots in the country, has witnessed a marked improvement in the virus spread. Compared to the beginning of this month, active cases in the Indian capital have fallen by nearly 29.6 percent to 19,017. On July 1, total active cases in Delhi stood at 27,007.
The Delhi government has decided to set up a second plasma bank. "After huge success of our first plasma bank, we launched Delhi's 2nd plasma bank today at Lok Nayak Jai Prakash Narayan Hospital," tweeted Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Tuesday.
Two days ago, Kejriwal said that the national capital had been able to "minimise deaths" of COVID-19 patients in home isolation with the help of pulse oximeters. "If patients detect their oxygen is falling, they reach out to us for help. We immediately send oxygen concentrators to their home or take them to a hospital," he tweeted.
According to ministry officials, so far 571,460 people across the country have been discharged from hospitals after showing improvement. "The number of active cases in the country right now is 311,565," read the information released by the federal health ministry.
Presently the country has entered Unlock 2.0 phase, though restrictions remain in full force inside the COVID-19 Containment Zones. Commercial international flights to and from India are suspended until July 31.
Last week, the government of Uttar Pradesh, country's biggest state in terms of population, decided to impose a weekend lockdown from Friday night till Monday morning to cut the chain of transmission of COVID-19. The state has also decided to continue with similar lockdowns every weekend.
A couple of days ago, the centre government presented its second report, Voluntary National Review (VNR), to the United Nations, stating that sustaining a high growth trajectory will be a challenge following the COVID-19 pandemic, "but India is revisiting existing models and exploring ways of developing relevant sectors of infrastructure and industry such as the pharmaceuticals and health equipment."
In its report, the Indian government said that while the COVID-19 pandemic had put forth severe breaks on the momentum of global economic growth, "India is adopting Artificial Intelligence and technology-based products and services in education, health and financial services, among others."
The report was prepared and submitted by the central government's ace think tank, the National Institution for Transforming India or NITI Aayog, reported the Hindustan Times.
In another related development, in a bid to prevent the spread of COVID-19 virus infection, the Indian Railways has developed a "Post Covid Coach," which has designed improvements like handsfree amenities, copper-coated handrails and latches, plasma air purification and titanium dioxide coating for COVID-free passenger journey.
