14 states report a CFR of less than 1 per cent
The Health Ministry said that India’s case fatality rate (CFR) is “progressively falling” and is currently at 2.49 per cent, which is one of the lowest in the world. “The CFR is progressively falling and currently, it is 2.49 per cent. India has one of the lowest fatality rates in the world,” the ministry said.
With nearly 39,000 new cases reported in the past 24 hours, the total number of coronavirus infections rose to over 10.7 lakh. At least 543 deaths were reported, taking the casualties to 26,816. While 3,73,379 are active patients, as many as 6.7 lakh patients have already recovered. Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, crossed the three-lakh mark on Saturday with Mumbai reporting over 1 lakh coronavirus cases so far. The state now has more cases than the United Kingdom, which has till now reported over 2.95 lakh infections. Globally, over 14 million people have been infected with the virus and 602,656 have died. It has taken just four days to climb to 14 million cases from 13 million recorded on July 13.
According to data released by the Union Health Ministry yesterday, 29 states and Union Territories have a CFR that is below the national average, with 14 states reporting a CFR of less than 1 per cent.
“The lower national CFR is definitely a silver lining. It only shows that we have to ensure that the maximum number of fatalities don’t occur during the 24-72 hour period (when the patient begins to show symptoms). Bringing the patient early gives the treating clinicians sufficient time to put into place standard of care issued by the Centre and improve the patient outcome, thereby lowering the CFR,” reported by The Indian Express.
The source, however, admitted to concerns in states where the CFR is higher than the national average. Among the big states, Maharashtra (3.85), Gujarat (4.48) and West Bengal (2.67) continue to report CFR above the national average.
While attributing this drop in CFR to “reporting of cases to the hospital within 24-72 hours” of the patient showing symptoms, sources in the government monitoring the pandemic in the country said the data raise a key red-flag: that some of the deaths in states such as Maharashtra and Gujarat, which have a CFR higher than the national average, were “avoidable”.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Narendra Modi, spoke to the chief ministers of seven states — Bihar, Assam, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, Tamil Nadu, Himachal Pradesh, and Uttarakhand — and discussed the situation of the novel coronavirus infection in the respective states, sources said. He also discussed the flood situation in Bihar and Assam, the sources added.