COVID-19: Overall recoveries exceed active cases for the first time in India; Total tally crosses 2.7 lakh
With 279 new fatalities, the death toll from the coronavirus has risen to 7,745, according to the health ministry data updated till 8 AM.
The number of active cases in the country stands at 1,33,632, while 1,35,205 people have recovered and one patient has migrated, the ministry said.
"Thus, 48.9 per cent of the patients have recovered so far," an official said.
The surge in cases over the last few days has prompted the Union health ministry to send central teams to assist state health officials in reviewing the public health measures being undertaken to combat COVID-19 in six cities of Delhi, Mumbai, Ahmedabad, Chennai, Kolkata and Bengaluru which are among the major contributors to India's rising tally of coronavirus infections.
These teams will provide technical support and handhold the state health departments and municipal health officials for reviewing public health measures implemented for containment and management of COVID-19 outbreak in the six cities, the Union health ministry said.
The teams will visit these cities within the next one week to review public health measures being undertaken for COVID-19 and submit a daily report of activities undertaken in collaboration with the local administration there.
"They will inform them regarding any issue of urgent importance and also submit a report of its observations and suggestions before concluding the visit," the ministry said.
The COVID-19 cases in Mumbai have crossed 51,000, while the national capital has reported more than 31,000 cases. Ahmedabad has reported nearly 15,000 cases while Chennai has over 22,000 cases.
On Tuesday, the ministry said that high-level multi-disciplinary central teams have been deployed in over 50 districts and municipal bodies spread across 15 states and UTs, witnessing a spurt in coronavirus cases, to assist local administrations in containment and management of COVID-19 outbreak there.
Meanwhile, the health ministry on Wednesday said that action would be initiated against all CGHS empanelled hospitals designated as COVID and non-COVID facilities for denying treatment to coronavirus infected patients and to those suffering from other diseases.
The warning was issued after the ministry reviewed representations from Central Government Health Scheme (CGHS) beneficiaries regarding difficulties they were facing in availing treatment at private hospitals and diagnostic centres empanelled under the scheme.
According to ICMR, a total of 50,61,332 samples have been tested till 9 AM with 1,45,216 samples tested in the last 24 hours.
India currently is the fifth worst-hit nation by the COVID-19 pandemic after the US, Brazil, Russia and the UK, according to data issued by the Johns Hopkins University.
The total 7,745 fatalities include 3,289 from Maharashtra followed by Gujarat with 1,313, Delhi with 905, Madhya Pradesh with 420, West Bengal with 415, Tamil Nadu with 307, Uttar Pradesh with 301, Rajasthan with 255 and Telangana with 148 deaths till 8 AM on Wednesday. PLB RT