India will not face serious coronavirus COVID-19 situation like some developed countries: Health Minister Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday assured that India will not face a serious coronavirus COVID-19 situation seen in some developed countries. He, however, said that the country is prepared for the worst-case scenario.

NEW DELHI: Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan on Saturday assured that India will not face a serious coronavirus COVID-19 situation seen in some developed countries. The Health Minister, however, said that the country is prepared for the worst-case scenario.

“There is no need to anticipate worst-case situation with regard to COVID-19 pandemic in India like in developed countries, but still we have prepared the whole country for the worst situation," Dr Harsh Vardhan said.

The Health Minister made this remark while interacting with Health Ministers and senior officials of North-East states on the current COVID-19 situation via video conferencing.

Vardhan said that India is improving its battle against COVID-19."Our fatality rate in the country continues to be around 3.3% and the recovery rate has climbed up to 29.9%, these are very good indicators. The doubling rate for the last 3 days has been about 11 days, for last 7 days it has been 9.9 days," he said.

"We have dedicated 843 hospitals exclusively for COVID-19 patients` treatment, which have about 1,65,991 beds in it for the same. Across the country, there are 1, 991 dedicated COVID-19 health centres which have 1, 35, 643 beds. These beds include isolation as well as ICU beds," he added.

Vardhan said that the Health Ministry is continuously coordinating with the states and monitoring the data on a daily basis. 

"There are 7, 645 quarantine centres across the country. We have distributed 69 lakhs N-95 masks have been to various state governments. A total of 32.76 lakhs PPEs have been distributed to state governments by the centre. We started from one testing lab in Pune and now we have over 453 labs in the country," he said.

"Yesterday evening we evaluated the data from various states and found that only 0.38 per cent of the patients were on the ventilators. 1.88 per cent requiring oxygen support and 2.21 per cent were on ICU beds," he added. The Health Minister said that India is ready for all eventualities. 

“A total of 17,847 people have recovered and gone back to their home. Our fatality rate is around 3.3 per cent and the recovery rate has climbed up to 29 per cent. These are very good indicators,’’ he added.