1) USA crossed 50,000 deaths in 23 days, Brazil in 95 days and Mexico in 141 days. India took 156 days to reach this national figure.
"There has been sustained focus of the Union and the State/UT governments on improved and effective clinical treatment in hospitals, supervised home isolation, use of non-invasive oxygen support, and improved services of the ambulances for ferrying patients for prompt and timely treatment. Tireless efforts of ASHA workers have ensured effective surveillance and tracking progress of the patients in supervised home isolation," the Health Ministry said in an official statement.
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2) On a continuous positive path of slide in its COVID-19 Case Fatality Rate, India has one of the lowest mortality globally. It stands at 1.93%, as of today.
"Clinical management skills of doctors treating COVID-19 patients have been upgraded by active technical guidance through tele-consultation sessions by domain knowledge experts from AIIMS, New Delhi. These measures have collectively ensured seamless and efficient patient management from home to hospital for critical and severe patients. This has ensured that India’s Case Fatality Rate (CFR) is maintained below the global average," the ministry further said.
3) The cumulative recoveries in the country so far are nearing 19 lakh-mark.
"Successful implementation of TESTING aggressively, TRACKING comprehensively & TREATING efficiently through a plethora of measures have contributed to the existing high level of recoveries as well. India's Recovery Rate has reached nearly 72% ensuring more and more patients are recovering. 53,322 have recovered and been discharged in the past 24 hours.With this number, the total recovered COVID-19 patients have increased to more than 18.6 lakh (18,62,258)," the ministry said.
4) The steady rise in recoveries has ensured that the percentage caseload of the country is reducing. The current active cases (6,77,444) compose the actual case load of the country. It is 26.16% of the total positive cases today, registering further drop in the last 24 hours.
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5) According to the ICMR, a cumulative total of 2,93,09,703 samples have been tested up to August 15 with 7,46,608 samples being tested on Saturday.
6) The national network of diagnostic labs comprises 969 labs in the government sector and 500 private labs, adding up to 1469.
The different types of labs include:
• Real-Time RT PCR based testing labs: 754 (Govt: 450 + Private 304)
• TrueNat based testing labs: 598 (Govt: 485 + Private: 113)
• CBNAAT based testing labs: 117 (Govt: 34 + Private: 83)
7) India has been reporting over 60,000 cases daily since August 7, barring August 11 when the country registered 53,601 new cases of the infection.
8) Of the 944 fresh deaths reported, 322 are from Maharashtra, 127 from Tamil Nadu, 114 from Karnataka, 87 from Andhra Pradesh, 58 each from West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh, 40 from Punjab, 19 from Gujarat, 16 from Rajasthan, 13 from Madhya Pradesh, 10 each from Delhi and Haryana.
9) Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Saturday said mass production of vaccine for COVID-19 will begin in India once scientists give their nod, and a roadmap was ready to ensure it reaches everyone in the country in the shortest possible time.
Addressing the nation from the ramparts of the Red Fort on India's 74th Independence Day, Modi said three vaccine candidates are in different stages of trials in the country, adding the talent of our scientists is like that of 'rishi munis'.
10) The phase-1 and 2 human clinical trials of two of them, developed indigenously by Bharat Biotech, in collaboration with the Indian Council of Medical Research(ICMR), and Zydus Cadila Ltd, are currently underway.