India reports 31,991 discharges in past 24 hours

India’s coronavirus (COVID-19) case fatality rate is progressively falling and currently it is at 2.28%, making it one of the lowest in the world, according to a statement issued by the Union Health Ministry on Monday.

Continuing the streak of more than 30,000 recoveries a day for the fourth successive day, 31,991 patients were discharged in the last 24 hours. This had taken the total recoveries beyond 9 lakh and the number currently stood at 9,17,567. The recovery rate was now 64%, the Ministry said.

Medical attention was being provided to all active cases in hospitals and home settings. The Central government attributed the falling case fatality rate and growing recovery rate to its and the State/UT governments focused efforts on early detection and isolation through aggressive testing and efficient clinical management of hospitalised cases.

Data released by the Ministry said that during the pandemic, through the Ayushman Bharat Health and Wellness Centers (AB-HWCs), in the last week, 3.83 lakh individuals were screened for hypertension, 3.14 lakh for diabetes, 1.15 lakh for oral cancer, 45,000 for breast cancer and 36,000 for cervical cancer.

“The AB-HWCs have been very useful in the pandemic as their population-based screenings for non-communicable diseases have provided the State health authorities a list of those with chronic diseases and the vulnerable, co-morbid population which has to be protected from COVID-19 on priority,’’ said the Health Ministry.

It added that in the week starting 18th July till 24th, a total of 44.26 lakh people have benefitted from the health and wellness services being provided by the AB-HWCs. The cumulative total footfall among the HWCs since their inception (i.e. 14th April 2018) consequently rose to 1923.93 lakh.

Responding to the Central government’s action to counter the COVID-19 outbreak that prompted disruptions in import of bulk drug and Active Pharmaceutical Ingredients (APIs) to India, S Sridhar, chair, FICCI Pharma Committee, and MD, Pfizer, said that the government’s ₹10,000 crore pharma package to boost manufacturing of APIs and reduce import dependence had come at a very right time.

“We believe that this is a first step towards what must be a sustained effort to help create a thriving API industry in the country. In subsequent phases, we hope to see measures that enable access to easier loans, enhanced taxation benefits, priority issue resolution across Ministries and further improvement in access to infrastructure,” he said. – The Hindu