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The number of COVID-19 patients who have recovered in the country crossed the five-lakh mark on Saturday, the Union Health ministry said and attributed it to a number of measures taken by the Centre and the state governments, including implementation of containment zones and surveillance activities.
India's COVID-19 tally surged to 8,20,916 on Saturday while the death toll climbed to 22,123 with 519 people succumbing to the disease in 24 hours, according to the health ministry's data updated at 8 am.
A series of proactive, preemptive and coordinated measures have been taken by the Centre and the state governments for containment and prevention of COVID-19, it said.
Coupled with effective implementation of containment zones, surveillance activities, timely diagnosis and effective clinical management of COVID-19 cases, the cumulative total number of recovered cases among COVID-19 patients has crossed the 5-lakh mark on Saturday, the ministry said.
A total of 5,15,385 COVID-19 patients have recovered so far with 19,870 patients having been cured and discharged in the last 24 hours till 8 am.
"The recovered cases outnumber the COVID-19 active cases by 2,31,978. With this progressively widening gap, the recovery rate has further improved to 62.78 per cent," the ministry said.
There are 2,83,407 active cases and all are under medical supervision, with severe cases being admitted in hospitals and pre-symptomatic patients and those showing moderate symptoms in home isolation, the ministry said.
Recent policy changes like allowing all registered medical practitioners to recommend testing for COVID and introduction of rapid antigen point of care testing along with RT-PCR has substantially bolstered the COVID-19 tests in the country, the ministry said.
According to the Indian Council of Medical Research (ICMR), a cumulative total of 1,13,07,002 swab samples have been tested for COVID-19 up to July 10, of which 2,82,511 were tested on Friday.
"The per day tests are demonstrating a steep upward trend with 2,82,511 samples tested yesterday. As on date, the Test per Million (TPM) for the country stands at 8,193," the ministry said.
There are 1,180 labs under the ICMR's diagnostic network which are functional in the country.
While those in the public sector have appreciably increased to 841 labs, the number of private labs has also been strengthened to a total of 339, it added.