84K COVID cases in 24 hrs as India claims higher tests

Close to 84,000 fresh cases of novel coronavirus were detected in India on Thursday which were the highest so far in a single day as overall cases of COVID-19, as per union health ministry, went past 38.53 lakhs. In the last 24 hours 1, 043 new deaths were recorded taking overall fatality to 67,376.

Union Health Secretary Mr Rajesh Bhushan said India has one of the lowest cases per million when compared to other countries in the world. “Despite high infection rates in India, the cases per million (population) in Brazil and the United States of America are 7 times higher than their corresponding figure in India. India’s cases per million is 2, 792 while that of the world is 3,359. The US has 18,986 cases per million while Brazil has 18, 802. Similarly, deaths per million (population) in Brazil and the United Kingdom are 12 and 13 times higher, respectively, as compared to India,” he said.

The United States has the highest number of total cases – 62.94 lakh as per worldometers.info and 61.15 lakh according to Johns Hopkins – followed by Brazil – 40 lakh as per worldometers.info and 39.97 lakh according to Johns Hopkins.

Officials said India has 49 deaths per million population compared to the global average which is 111 per million population. The highest is in the UK, 611 per million population followed by Brazil 582 and the US 573. However, officials said 87 per cent of the deaths in India have been in the age group of 45 years and above while 50 per cent of the deaths have been in the age group of 60 years and above.

According to the health ministry five states – Maharashtra (24.77%), Andhra Pradesh (12.64%), Karnataka (11.58%), Uttar Pradesh (6.92%), and Tamil Nadu (6.42%) – account for 62% of the total cases in the country. These five states also account for 70% of total deaths due to COVID-19 India. However, despite rising number of cases in these states, officials said, there has been 6.8% decline in Maharashtra’s daily active cases this week compared to August 13-19 while in Andhra the decrease is 13.7%, in Karnataka its is 16.1%, Tamil Nadu it is  23.9% and Uttar Pradesh has 17.1% decrease.

“We are having a daily high number of fresh cases mainly because we are conducting a very high number of tests and our population too is bigger than several nations. Our positivity rate today is 7.20%,” Mr Bhushan said.

Meanwhile, the Health Secretary clarified that the ministry has not issued any guidelines recommending wearing of a mask if someone is driving a car or cycling alone. However, people are in a group then they need to wear masks and maintain distancing. The clarification comes following complaints by people for being fined by police for not wearing a mask while being inside their cars despite being alone in the vehicle.