India's COVID-19 recovery rate improves to 62.93 per cent: Health ministry

Focussed and coordinated action by the Centre along with states and UTs, effective clinical management of coronavirus and timely diagnosis led to a consistent increase in the number of recovered cases in the country, the Union health ministry said on Sunday.

The number of recovered cases exceeds active COVID-19 cases by 2,42,362 as on date, it said.

"The recovery rate has improved to 62.93 per cent," the ministry said.

"As more people are recovering due to all-round efforts, the recovered cases exceed active cases by 2,42,362," it said.

There are 2,92,258 active coronavirus cases in the country.

In the last 24 hours, a total of 19,235 people were cured of the coronavirus infection. This has resulted in the cumulative total number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients rising to 5,34,620 on Sunday.

India, meanwhile, added a record 28,637 cases of coronavirus infection on Sunday, pushing the country's COVID-19 tally to 8,49,553. The death toll climbed to 22,674 with 551 people succumbing to the disease in a day, according to the ministry's data updated at 8 am.

The country at present has 1,370 dedicated COVID hospitals, 3,062 COVID health centres, and 10,334 COVID care centres.

The Centre has so far provided 122.36 lakh PPE Kits, 223.33 lakh N95 masks and 21,685 ventilators to various states, Union territories (UTs) and central institutions, the ministry said.

Enabling factors like removing all impediments to COVID-19 testing and facilitating widespread testing by states and UTs continue to result in a steady rise in the total number of samples tested every day, it said.

"As a result of these efforts, the testing per million for India is presently 8,396.4," the ministry said.

According to ICMR, a cumulative total of 1,15,87,153 samples have been tested till July 11, with 2,80,151 samples tested on Saturday.

A crucial supporting factor in the progressive rise in testing numbers is a continuous expansion of the countrywide diagnostic lab network, which as on date, comprises 850 labs in the government sector and 344 private labs (total of 1,194  labs), the ministry added.