India has 1 COVID-19 death per lakh population as against 6.04 globally: Health ministry

PTI, Jun 23, 2020, 4:40 PM IST

New Delhi: As against the global average of 6.04, India has one COVID-19 death per lakh population which is one of the lowest in the world, the Union health ministry said on Tuesday, June 23, and credited timely detection of cases, extensive contact tracing and effective clinical management for the low mortality rate.

Till date, 14,011 people have died in India due to the viral infection with 312 fatalities reported in 24 hours till Tuesday 8 am, while 14,933 new instances of the disease took the total caseload to 4,40,215.

Citing WHO Situation Report 154 dated June 22, the ministry said the United Kingdom has registered 63.13 coronavirus-related fatalities per lakh population, while in Spain it is 60.60, Italy 57.19, the US 36.30, Germany 27.32, Brazil 23.68 and Russia 5.62.

“In India, early detection of cases, timely testing, and surveillance, extensive contact tracing coupled with effective clinical management have helped to check case mortality,” the ministry said in a statement.

This is also a testimony to the graded, pre-emptive and pro-active approach the Centre along with the states and Union Territories have taken for prevention, containment, and management of COVID-19, it said.

“The recovery rate continues to improve and it is 56.38 percent as on date,” the ministry said.

So far, 2,48,189 patients have recovered from the disease leaving 1,78,014 active cases, according to updated official figures on Tuesday 8 am. One patient has migrated.

During the last 24 hours, a total of 10,994 COVID-19 patients have recovered. According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 71,37,716 samples have been tested up to June 22 with 1,87,223 samples being tested on Monday. The number of government labs has been increased to 726 and private labs to 266, summing up to a total of 992.

India is the fourth worst-hit nation by the pandemic after the US, Brazil, and Russia. According to Johns Hopkins University, which has been compiling COVID-19 data from all over the world, India is in the eighth position in terms of the death toll.