Recovery rate of patients rising: Health ministry

New Delhi: The recovery rate of Covid-19 patients has been steadily rising, jumping over 5 percentage points between April 16 and 21, the ministry of health and family welfare said on Tuesday.

The recovery rate rose to 17.48% on Tuesday from 12.02% on April 16, according to the ministry.

“Yesterday (Monday), the most number of Covid-19 cases were reported to be cured and discharged by hospitals,” joint secretary (health) Lav Agarwal said. “This takes our recovery rate to 17.48% and it is the highest single day recovery reported so far.”

On April 18, the recovery rate stood at 13.82%, which increased to 14.19% on April 19 and then to 14.75% on Monday. Even as the recovery rate has been increasing, there is still over 1,000 Covid-19 cases being reported daily.

Four districts — Mahe (Puducherry), Kodagu (Karnataka), Pauri Garhwal (Uttrakhand) and Pratapgarh (Rajasthan) — have not reported any fresh cases in the last 28 days. There are now 61 additional districts from 23 states that have not reported any fresh cases during the last 14 days. Four new districts—Latur , Osmanabad, Hingoli and Washim—have been included in the list.

On Tuesday, the government revised its data on the number of Covid-19 cases that are asymptomatic. The Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR) and the health ministry had on Monday said that 80% of the patients are asymptomatic. But Dr Raman R Gangakhedkar, head of epidemiology at ICMR, on Tuesday said: “Our study shows that 69% are asymptomatic and 31% symptomatic.”

Union health minister Dr Harsh Vardhan has written to state governments to ensure availability of adequate blood in blood banks. He has asked state chief ministers and governors to give a call to people to voluntarily donate blood.