COVID-19: Cases rise further across states; Govt says mortality rate much lower in India

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New Delhi, May 19 () Hundreds more people tested positive on Tuesday for the deadly coronavirus infection across the country with a large number of them having returned from other states or from abroad, even as officials said India's mortality rate has been very low and it has taken much longer here for the tally to hit the one-lakh mark than many other countries.

In its morning 8 AM update, the Union Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has reached 1,01,139 and the death toll has risen to 3,163. This marked an increase of nearly 5,000 cases and 134 fatalities in a 24-hour period.

However, a tally of figures announced by various states and union territories, as of 6.45 PM, showed a much higher number for the confirmed infections at 1,01,688.

More than 39,000 patients have recovered too, still leaving over 59,000 active cases in the country -- which is the seventh largest globally after the US, Russia, Brazil, France, Italy and Peru.

The Health Ministry said that for every one lakh population, there are 7.1 coronavirus cases in India so far, as against 60 globally.

Referring to data from the World Health Organisation, the ministry said 45,25,497 COVID-19 cases had been reported worldwide till Monday, which is about 60 cases per lakh population.

Among the countries with a very high load of coronavirus cases, the US, with 14,09,452 instances of the infection so far, has around 431 cases per lakh population. In the UK, this ratio is 494 cases per lakh and for Italy it is 372.

Officials also cited data about India having taken 64 days for the count of confirmed cases to increase from 100 to one lakh, which was more than double the time taken by countries like the US and Spain. According to the data sourced from the health ministry and Worldometers, the coronavirus infection cases increased from 100 to 1,00,000 in the US in 25 days, while it took 30 days for the cases to reach the 1 lakh-mark in Spain.

It took 35 days in Germany, 36 days in Italy, 39 days in France and 42 days in the United Kingdom for the coronavirus infection cases to rise from 100 to 1 lakh, respectively.

Reeling off further data, officials said India has so far an average of about 0.2 COVID-19 deaths per lakh population as against the global average of 4.1.

They further said a record number of 1,08,233 samples were tested for COVID-19 on Monday, taking the overall count of tests to more than 24 lakh.

While the total count of tests in India is estimated to be the seventh largest in the world, after the US, Russia, Germany, Italy, Spain and UK, the country ranks much lower at 139th place in terms of tests per million population, as per data website Worldometer.

The countries having done more tests than India per million population include Russia, Italy, Australia, Singapore, Norway, Switzerland, UK, Germany, US, Canada, France and Sweden.

As per the latest data, more than 48 lakh people worldwide have tested positive for the deadly virus ever since its emergence in China last December, while nearly 3.2 lakh have lost their lives. Over 18 lakh have recovered too.

More than 15 lakh cases have been reported in the US alone, while over 90,000 have died there.

There are concerns that some parts of the country, including in Kerala, Goa and North-East, are seeing the second or third phase of the virus outbreak as they had almost flattened the curves till a few days ago before people from other states or countries started arriving there.

Kerala on Tuesday recorded 12 more COVID-19 cases, all being returnees from overseas and other states, taking the total active patients to 142. Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said the rise was expected but asserted community transmission has not happened so far.

All those who tested positive had come from outside the state -- four from abroad and eight from other states, including six from Maharashtra, Vijayan told reporters.

With the flow of people from various countries and other states, as expected, positive cases have begun to rise in Kerala, the chief minister said.

Since May 7, when the first repatriation flight from the Gulf landed, several of the Keralites who returned home after being stranded in foreign countries and in other states such as Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu, which have a high number of COVID-19 cases, have tested positive. On Monday too, as many as 28 returnees had tested positive.

In Manipur too, a woman and her daughter tested positive for COVID-19 after returning from Delhi, officials said.

Uttar Pradesh also saw 142 more people testing positive for COVID-19, taking its tally to 4,748.

The national capital recorded 500 more cases, taking its tally to 10,554, while its death toll has now risen to 166.

Maharashtra, the worst-affected state, reported 2,100 fresh cases, taking its overall tally to 37,158, state's Health Minister Rajesh Tope said.

In Assam, 20 people tested positive, taking the total number of cases in the state to 135. All the new patients were in different quarantine centres across districts. These included people having returned from Chennai and Darjeeling.

Karnataka recorded its biggest ever single-day rise with 127 new cases. Of these, 91 have inter-state travel history from neighboring Maharashtra, the state government said.

At least two COVID-19 related deaths were reported in Andhra Pradesh, taking the toll to 52, while 57 more tested positive to take the total number of infections in the state to 2,489. Fresh cases include those linked to the Koyambedu market in Chennai, which has become a major hotspot of the deadly virus infection. PLB PM UD ABN KND TR ND BJ BJ