India's coronavirus cases cross 70,000; recovery rate improves to 31.7%

New Delhi [India], May 12 : India's count of coronavirus cases crossed 70,000 mark on Tuesday with 3,604 more cases reported in the last 24 hours.
While the doubling time in the past 14 days was 10.9, it has improved to 12.2 in the last three days. The fatality rate is 3.2 per cent and recovery rate is 31.74 per cent.
A total of 70,756 cases have been reported from the country of which 22,455 persons have been cured and 2,293 deaths had occurred. In the last 24 hours, 1538 patients were found cured. There are 46,008 active coronavirus cases.
Health Minister Dr Harsh Vardhan held a high-level meeting through video-conferencing today with Lieutenant Governors of Jammu and Kas
hmir, and Ladakh, and Chief Ministers of Uttarakhand and Himachal Pradesh.
The minister said India's COVID-19 mortality rate is one of the lowest in the world.
"As we are seeing continuously, our recovery rate is getting better every day. Today our recovery rate is at 31.7 per cent. In the fight against COVID-19, our mortality rate is almost the lowest in the world. Today the mortality rate is around 3.2 per cent. In several states it is even less than this. The global fatality rate is around 7-7.5 per cent," he said.
He said testing capacity has increased to one lakh COVID-19 tests per day.
"Now we can do one lakh tests per day. 86,191 tests were done on May 11. There are 347 government labs and 137 private labs in the country. In February, we had only one lab NIV Pune. India has now 484 labs," he said.
Maharashtra continues to have most coronavirus cases at 23,401 with 4,786 patients being cured/discharged while 868 deaths have been reported in the state.
Gujarat is second on the list with 8,541 cases that include 2,780 patients who have recovered and 513 fatalities. Tamil Nadu has 8,002 cases including 2,051 persons who have recovered and 53 who have died.
Delhi's count of total cases stands at 7,233 cases with 2,129 patients having recovered from the disease.
Mizoram, Goa, Manipur and Arunachal Pradesh have reported no new cases in the last 24 hours.
Prime Minister Narendra Modi lauded the role of nurses on International Nurse Day and said "they are doing great work towards defeating COVID-19".
"International Day of the Nurse is a special day to express gratitude to the phenomenal nurses working round the clock to keep our planet healthy. Presently, they are doing great work towards defeating COVID-19. We are extremely grateful to the nurses and their families," the Prime Minister said in a tweet. .
"Inspired by Florence Nightingale, our hardworking nursing staff personify abundant compassion. Today, we also reiterate our commitment to keep working for the welfare of nurses and devote greater attention to opportunities in this field so that there is no shortage of caregivers," he added.
Here are COVID related updates:
1. Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan said that five new COVID-19 cases were reported in the state on Tuesday. Four of the new cases are of people who came back from abroad, while one person had returned from Chennai.
2. The second phase of Vande Bharat Mission will be launched from May 16-22 during which 149 flights, including feeder flights, will be operated to bring back Indians from 31 countries, sources said.
3. A total of 6037 Indians have been flown back to India in 31 inbound flights operated by Air India and Air India Express under Vande Bharat Mission in five ays beginning from May 7.
4. Health Minister has asked states to accord attention to provisioning of non-COVID essential health services such as immunisation drives, TB case finding and treatment, providing blood transfusion for dialysis patients, treatment of cancer patients, ANC of pregnant women. He said that Ayushman Bharat-Health and Wellness Centres could be used for screening for hypertension, diabetes and three types of cancers.
5. Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) Jitendra Singh today interacted with deputy commisioners of all districts of Jammu and Kashmir and Ladakh to discuss the latest COVID 19 situation, arrival of stranded persons in the two UTs and the arrangements made by the administration for the passengers arriving through the Shramik Special trains, besides the resumption of regular train services to Jammu from tomorrow.
6. Himachal Pradesh Police has registered a case under Section 307 of Indian Penal Code (IPC) against a person who despite being tested positive for COVID-19 did not follow quarantine norms.
7. In a bid to decongest jails across the state amid coronavirus outbreak, the Maharashtra government has decided to give "temporary parole" to 17,000 inmates out of 35,000 lodged in different jails.
8. As on May 12, a total of 542 "Shramik Special" trains have been operationalized from various states across the country. Special trains connecting Delhi to different parts of the country also started running from today .
9. Additional Chief Secretary (Home) of Uttar Pradesh Awanish Awasthi on Tuesday said that 233 trains have brought 2,81,408 migrant workers to the state so far.
10. Out of the 150 active COVID-19 cases in Chandigarh, 100 are from 10 houses in Bapu Dham colony, Advisor of Chandigarh Administration Manoj Parida said