India on Thursday recorded 32,695 new cases of the coronavirus disease in the last 24 hours which took the country’s tally to 9,68,876, according to the Union health ministry website.
The number of active cases in the country stand at 3,31,146, while 6,12,814 have been cured or discharged, according to the health ministry. The death toll reached 24,915 after 606 fresh fatalities were recorded in the last 24 hours.
India’s Covid-19 tally has been fast heading towards a million mark with spike in the number of cases every day.
Maharashtra continues to be the worst-affected state and has reported a total of 2,75,640 Covid-19 cases and close to 11,000 fatalities.
Amid the rise in cases, Bihar has imposed a lockdown from Thursday till July 31. Except essential services, everything else will be closed in the state during this period. Religious places and offices too will remain closed.
The government, meanwhile, announced on Wednesday that a record 20,572 patients recuperated from Covid-19 disease in the last 24 hours (betwen Tuesday and Wednesday) and the country’s recovery rate rose to 63.24 per cent.
This is the highest rate of recovery so far, according to the health ministry.
Aggressive testing, timely diagnosis and effective management of patients either through supervised home isolation or active medical attention in hospitals have led to a surge in recovered cases which exceed active Covid-19 cases, the ministry said.
It further said that the norms and standards for home isolation along with the use of oxymeters have helped to keep a check on the asymptomatic or mildly symptomatic patients without putting pressure on hospital infrastructure.
Medical infrastructure in India to treat Covid-19 patients includes 1,378 dedicated hospitals, 3,077 dedicated health centres, and 1,0351 care centres equipped with 21,738 ventilators, 46,487 ICU beds, and 1,65,361 oxygen beds, the health ministry said.