20,96,664 patients recover from coronavirus; India’s COVID-19 recovery rate nears 74%: Health Ministry

New Delhi: Recoveries among coronavirus patients in the country has surged to 20,96,664 on Thursday, pushing the recovery rate to 73.91 per cent, while only 0.28 per cent people of 6,86,395 active cases are on ventilator support, the Union Health Ministry said.

Of the active cases of coronavirus infection, 1.92 per cent are in ICU and 2.62 per cent on oxygen support. The country's case fatality rate has further declined to 1.90 per cent, it said.

Recovery of 20,96,664 patients has been made possible because of effective implementation of the policy of testing aggressively, tracking comprehensively and treating efficiently, the ministry said in a statement.

"Focus on standard of care protocol including use of non-invasive oxygen, better skilled doctors in the ICUs and hospitals, and improved ambulance services have culminated in yielding the desired results," it said.

With 58,794 recoveries in a span of 24 hours, India's recovery rate amongst COVID-19 patients has reached nearly 74 per cent (73.91 per cent) reflecting that the number of patients recovering is on a steady rise over the past several months, it added.

India has posted 14,10,269 more recoveries than active cases. There are 6,86,395 active cases of coronavirus infection which are under active medical care.

The record high recoveries have ensured that the active cases, the "actual caseload" of the country, currently comprise only 24.19 per cent of the total cases.

Early identification through testing, surveillance and contact tracing along with the focus on timely and appropriate clinical treatment of COVID-19 patients have ensured that not only is the case fatality rate lower than the global average and progressively declining but also a small proportion of the active cases are on ventilator support, the ministry said.

India's COVID-19 caseload increased to 28,36,925 with a record single-day spike of 69,652 infections, while the death toll climbed to 53,866 with 977 fresh fatalities being reported in a day, official data updated at 8 am showed.