India had highest numbers of daily new COVID-19 cases in past week: WHO data

India’s total recovered cases cross 32.5 lakh, case fatality rate declined to new low of 1.70 per cent; five states contribute 60 per cent of total cases

As per WHO’s latest weekly COVID-19 epidemiological report for the week ending September 6, the South-East Asia Region continued to show the highest increase in new COVID-19 cases in the past week, compared to the previous week, with over 600 000 new cases reported.

Within the South-East Asia Region, India continues to report a very high number of new cases, with an average of approximately 81582 cases per day, the highest numbers of daily new cases in the past week. In Myanmar, cases have shown a marked increase of nearly 87 per cent in the past seven days.

Cumulatively, nearly 27 million COVID-19 cases and 900 000 deaths have been reported to WHO to date. Over 1.8 million new cases and 37 000 new deaths were reported for the week ending September 6, a five per cent increase in the number of cases and a 2 per cent decrease in the number of deaths compared to the previous week (24 to 30 August).

A weekly increase in the number of new reported cases was seen in the European and Eastern Mediterranean Regions, while the African and Western Pacific Regions declined in both cases and deaths compared with last week. The Region of the Americas has seen a one per cent increase in reported cases, but a four per cent decrease in deaths, and continues to carry the highest burden of the disease globally, accounting for nearly half of all new cases reported in the past seven days.

As per data from the Ministry of Health and Family Welfare, India’s total recovered cases have crossed 32.5 lakh, with 69,564 patients being discharged in the last 24 hours. This has resulted in the recovery rate touching 77.31 per cent, while case fatality rate declined to a new low of 1.70 per cent as of September 7 data.

The five states in India contributing 60 per cent of total cases (Maharashtra at the top with 21.6 per cent, followed by Andhra Pradesh (11.8 per cent), Tamil Nadu (11.0 per cent), Karnataka (9.5 per cent) and Uttar Pradesh (6.3 per cent)

The same five states also contribute 62 per cent of total active cases in almost the same order: Maharashtra contributed 26.76 per cent of the active cases in the country, followed by Andhra Pradesh (11.30 per cent), Karnataka (11.25 per cent), Uttar Pradesh (6.98 per cent) and Tamil Nadu (5.83 per cent).

The total number of recoveries stands more than 32.5 lakh (32,50,429), with the same five states together contributing 57 per cent of the recoveries in the last 24 hours. Andhra Pradesh recorded the highest recoveries with 11915 newly recovered cases. Karnataka and Maharashtra saw 9575 and 7826 recoveries while Tamil Nadu and Uttar Pradesh witnessed 5820 and 4779 new recoveries, respectively.

The country also recorded nearly five crore total tests (4,95,51,507), with the daily testing capacity reportedly crossing 11.70 lakh. As of September 7 data, 7,20,362 tests were conducted in the last 24 hours, 1,33,33,904 tests in the last two weeks.