Recovered COVID-19 cases now double of active cases: Health Ministry

The number of recovered COVID-19 patients in India is increasing daily and is now over double the number of active cases, Health Ministry said on Tuesday.

Addressing a press conference here, Rajesh Bhushan, Secretary, Ministry of Health said that the case fatality rate (CFR) is lowest since the first lockdown.

"More than 2 crore COVID-19 tests have been conducted, including more than 6.6 lakh tests in the last 24 hours. Recovered cases are now double of the active cases. The case fatality rate (CFR) is lowest since the first lockdown," he said

"This is the first time after the first lockdown that the fatality rate is at the lowest, at 2.10%. The fatality rate has seen a progressive decline and it is continuing, which is a good sign," he added.

According to the World Health Orgsation, CFR is a measure of the severity of a disease and is defined as the proportion of reported cases of a specified disease or condition which are fatal within a specified time.

In the first lockdown, India was under a 21-day lockdown to contain the spread of coronavirus in the country from March 25 to April 14. At present, it is in the third phase of re-opening.

The official said 68 per cent of COVID deaths have been reported among male patients and 32 per cent among female patients which is broadly in with the global scenario.

He said that many states have increased their testing capacity, both of RT - PCR and rapid antigen tests.

"As many as 28 states and Union Territories (UTs) are doing more tests than the national average of 140 tests per day per million population. Goa, Delhi, Tripura and Tamil Nadu have increased their testing capacity," Bhushan said.

"We are monitoring both daily positive and weekly positive cases of COVID-19. A total of 28 states, UTs have positivity less than 10 per cent. A few states in the country are showing rise in positive cases that need attention," he added.

He said the actual case load of COVID-19 in the country today is 5,86,298 as more than 12 lakh people have already recovered.

India witnessed a single-day spike of 52,050 COVID-19 cases as the total count of cases in the country reached 18,55,746 on Tuesday.

The number of cured/discharged/migrated patients stands at 12,30,510 and 38,938 persons have died, the Health Ministry added.

( With inputs from ANI )