India’s Covid-19 tally surges past 6.97 lakh, death toll at 19,693 -Maharashtra has most of the country Covid-19 cases at 206,619 and the state has reported 8,822 deaths so far. Tamil Nadu with 111,151 infections is the second worst-affected state and has also reported 1,510 fatalities.-‘India’s Covid-19 positivity rate at 6.37 percent’: Ministry of Health

HT | Edited by  Meenakshi Ray | 6 July 2020, New Delhi: The Union health ministry on Monday reported there were 24,248 new cases of the coronavirus disease (Covid-19) and 425 deaths in the last 24 hours, pushing the overall tally to 697,413.

India had on Sunday overtaken Russia to become the third-most affected country globally in terms of the numbers of Covid-19 cases. More than 11 million infections and 536,776 deaths have been reported worldwide, data from Worldometers shows.

The country’s death toll stands at 19,693 and there are 253,287 active cases of the disease so far, according to the health ministry’s dashboard.

With 15,350 patients cured between Sunday and Monday morning, there are 424,432 people who have been discharged from hospitals across the country. It has pushed the recovery rate to 60.85%.

Maharashtra has most of the country’s Covid-19 cases at 206,619 and the state has reported 8,822 deaths so far. Tamil Nadu with 111,151 infections is the second worst-affected state and has also reported 1,510 fatalities.

The national capital has seen 99,444 patients of the viral disease and 3,067 deaths to date.

The Union health ministry had said on Sunday that 21 states and Union territories, including Delhi, Gujarat and Uttar Pradesh, have a recovery rate higher than the national average of 60.77%.

It said collective and focused efforts for containment and management of Covid-19 by the Centre along with the states and Union territories have led to the number of recovered patients to rise.

The United States is the worst-hit country in the world with 2,982,928 cases and 132,569 deaths, followed by Brazil, which has nearly 1,604,585 cases and 64,900 deaths, according to worldometers.info.

Russia now has 681,251 Covid-19 infections and 10,161 deaths, followed by Peru with 302,718 cases and 10,589 deaths on Sunday night.

The national positivity rate of Covid-19 - the average rate of samples testing positive for the coronavirus disease across the country - stands at 6.73 percent, the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare stated on Monday.

The ministry added that the central government had emphasized increasing testing, prompt contact tracing and timely clinical management of Covid-19 cases.

The ministry said that with the help of effort undertaken by the central government, a big jump in Covid-19 testing in Delhi has been achieved while the positivity rate has gone down.

The rate of positivity is an important marker in assessing the trend of an outbreak. According to Johns Hopkins University, the rate can provide insights into whether a community is conducting enough tests.

Union Government has emphasized on increasing testing, prompt contact tracing and timely clinical management of the COVID19 cases. The national Positivity Rate stands at 6.73% : Ministry of Health and Family Welfare.

— ANI (@ANI) July 6, 2020

“If a community’s positivity is high, it suggests that that community may largely be testing the sickest patients and possibly missing milder or asymptomatic cases,” it says.

A lower positivity rate, on the other hand, may indicate testing of patients with milder or no symptoms.

“The WHO has said that in countries that have conducted extensive testing for Covid-19, should remain at 5% or lower for at least 14 days,” it states.

India overtook Russia on Sunday as the third-worst affected country with Covid-19. India’s Covid-19 death toll stands at 196,93 while the tally now nears 7 lakh with a total of 697,413 cases. More than 60% of people have recovered from the deadly contagion across the country with 424,432 patients recovering or getting discharged from hospitals.