The Centre on Thursday said that India’s COVID-19 cases per million are 538 while the world average stands at 1,453.
“The global comparison between the five most affected countries clearly depicted that India has one of the lowest cases per million (538) and deaths per million (15) compared the global average of 1453 and 68.7, respectively,” the Health Ministry said in a statement.
Eight states, including Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Delhi, Karnataka and Telangana, account for around 90 per cent of the active Covid-19 cases in the country, according to the health ministry.
The ministry also said that six states -Maharashtra, Delhi, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu, Uttar Pradesh and West Bengal- account for 86 per cent of the total COVID-19 deaths in the country.
Speaking at the 18th meeting of the High-level Group of Ministers (GoM) on COVID-19, Union health minister Harsh Vardhan said that the Centre along with the state governments is trying to reduce and keep the COVID-19 case fatality rate low by early identification and effective clinical management.
“As we move forward, our focus shall be on the management of COVID-19 through strict containment measures and surveillance, utilising the full testing capacity, monitoring of the co-morbid and elderly population, predicting the emerging hotspots, leveraging digital tools such as Aarogya Setu, ensuring seamless patient admission processes and infrastructure preparedness (critical-care beds, oxygen, ventilators and logistics),” Vardhan said.