COVID-19 Cases In India are Doubling in 11.3 Days and Mortality Rate is 3 %: Dr Harsh Vardhan

Union Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan said that the COVID-19 doubling rate in the country has gone up to 11.3 days. The Minister added that the global mortality rate is around 7 per cent, while India is having a mortality rate of around 3 per cent.

Dr Harsh Vardhan said that only 0.33 per cent patients in the country are on ventilators, 1.5 per cent patients are on oxygen support and 2.34 per cent patients are in ICU.

There are 288 government laboratories working along with 97 private lab chains with around 16,000 sample collection centres, said the Minister. He added that around 60,000 tests are conducted every day. "Government is working to increase testing capacity to 1 lakh tests per day within next few days," said Dr Harsh Vardhan.

Meanwhile, 1,813 new cases of COVID-19 were reported in the last 24 hours and 71 deaths took place. India's total count of coronavirus cases surged to 31,787, said the Union Ministry of Health and Family Welfare on Wednesday.

The total cases are inclusive of 7,797 cured and discharged patients, one migrated and 1,008 deaths. At present, there are 22,982 active COVID-19 cases in the country.

Earlier on Wednesday, the Ministry of Home Affairs has allowed the interstate travel of migrant workers, tourists, students etc. stranded at various places in the country amidst the lockdown enforced due to the novel coronavirus pandemic.