NEW DELHI, May 19:
The nationwide COVID-19 tally crossed 1,05,000 today with over 5,000 more people testing positive for the deadly virus infection, including many having returned from other States or from abroad, even as officials said India’s mortality rate has been very low and it has taken much longer here for the count of infected ones to hit the one-lakh mark than many other countries.
The Union Health Ministry said the total number of confirmed cases has reached 1,01,139 and the death toll has risen to 3,163. This marked an increase of nearly 5,000 cases and 134 fatalities in a 24-hour period.
However, a PTI tally of figures announced by various states and union territories, as of 9.25 PM, showed a higher number for the confirmed infections at 1,05,498 and the death toll at 3,145. It also showed at least 41,747 patients having recovered so far.
This leaves more than 60,600 active cases in the country — which is the seventh largest globally after the US, Russia, Brazil, France, Italy and Peru.
The Health Ministry, however, said that for every one lakh population there are only 7.1 coronavirus cases in India so far, as against 60 globally.
Referring to data from the World Health Organisation, the ministry said 45,25,497 COVID-19 cases had been reported worldwide till Monday, which is about 60 cases per lakh population.
Among the countries with a very high load of coronavirus cases, the US, with 14,09,452 instances of the infection so far, has around 431 cases per lakh population. In the UK, this ratio is 494 cases per lakh and for Italy it is 372.
Officials also cited data about India having taken 64 days for the count of confirmed cases to increase from 100 to one lakh, which was more than double the time taken by countries like the US and Spain. According to the data sourced from the health ministry and Worldometers, the coronavirus infection cases increased from 100 to 1,00,000 in the US in 25 days, while it took 30 days for the cases to reach the 1 lakh-mark in Spain.
It took 35 days in Germany, 36 days in Italy, 39 days in France and 42 days in the United Kingdom for the Coronavirus infection cases to rise from 100 to 1 lakh, respectively. (PTI)
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